Glass ^BJi 
Book L_ 



j 



AN 



ESSAY, 

ON THE 

WARRANT, NATURE AND DUTIES 

OF THE OFFICE OF THE 

RlTLiIBfG ELDER* 

IN THE 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



BY SAMUEL MILLER. D.D. 

PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND CHURCH 
GOVERNMENT IN THE THEOLO(>ICAL SEMINARY 
AT PRINCETON, N. J. 



NEW-YORK : 




JONATHAN LEAVITT» 
boston: 
CROCKER & BREWSTER> 



183L 



DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY, ss. 

. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-fifth dav 
'^^^^ ©t ^P'-il. A. D. 1831, in the fifty-fiflh year of the Inde^ 
^W^^^^ pendence of the United Stuteir^ of America, SAMUEL 
;^^PRr MILLER, of the said District, hath deposited in this 
•S^jjfl^^ offiee the title of a book, the right whereof he claims 
as Author, in the words following, to wit: — 

"An Essay on the Warrant, Nature, and Duties of the opupe of the 
Ruling Elder, in the Presbyterian Church. By Samuel Miller, D.D. 
Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the 
Theological Seminary at Princeton, N.J." 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the Unite(^; States, 
entitled, " An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by sfec^fr^ng; 
the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors andj-^joprie- 
tors of such copies, during the times therein mention^d'^;^ An^d 
also to an act, entitled, An act supplementary to an act, e'tititled, 
" An act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing th6'c6pies 
of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
copies during the times therein mentioned and extending the 
benefits thereof to the Arts of designing, etching, and engraving his- 
torical and other prints." 

W. PENNINGTON, 
Ckrk of the District of Neiv-Jersey> 



?S9 



JVm. D'Hart, Printer i 
Princeton, JST. J. ^ 



TO 

THE MINISTERS AND EI.DEIIS 



PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

IN THE 

UNITED STATES. 

Reverend and Respect sod Brkthren, 

The substance of the following Essay was 
delivered, from the Pulpit, in the form of a 
Sermon, more than twenty years a^o, and 
subsequently published. In consequence of 
repeated solicitation, from some individuals of 
your number, I have thought proper to alter 
its form, to enlarge its limits, and to adapt it, 
according to my best judgment, to more ge- 
neral utility, it has long appeared to me that 
a more ample discussion of this subject than 
I have hitherto seen, is really needed. And 
if the present volume should be considered as, 
in any tolerable degree, answering the desired 
purpose, I shall ff el myself richly rewarded for 
the labor which has attended its preparation. 

Such as it is, my venerated Friends, I in- 
scribe it, most respectfully, to you. My first 



iv. 

prayer in regard to it, is, that if may be the 
means of doing some g.>od: my next, that it 
may be received by those whom I have so 
much reason to respect and hwe, as a well 
intended effort to benefit the Church of God. 

I am aware that some of my Brethren do not 
concur with me in maintaining the Divine au- 
thority of the office of the Ruling Elder; and, 
probably, in several other opinions respecting 
this office advanced in the following pages, fa 
reference to these points, 1 can only say, that^ 
as the original publication, of which this is an 
enlargement, was made without the remotest 
thought of controversy, and even without ad- 
verting, in my own mind, to the fact, that I 
differed materially from any of my Brethren ; 
so nothing is more foreign from my wishes, in 
the republication, than to assail the opinions or 
feelings of any Brother. I have carefully re- 
examined the whole subject And, although, 
in doing this, I have heen led to tiiodify some 
of my former opinions, in relation to a few 
minor points ; yet in reference to the Divine 
warrant and the great importance of the Office 
for which I plead, my convictions have become 
stronger than ever. The following: sheets ex- 
hibit those views, and that te^itimony in siippc^t 



V. 



of them, which at present, satisfy my own mind, 
and which 1 feel confident may be firmly sus- 
tained. H )W far, houeven the considerations 
which have satisfied me, may impress more 
impartial judges, I cannot venture to foretel. 
All that I dare to ask in their behalf is,' that 
they may be seriously and candidly weighed. 

But there is one point in regard to which 1 
anticipate no diversity of opinion. If the state- 
ment given in the follov\ing Essay, concerning 
the DUTIES incumbent on Ruling Elders, be 
correct, it is certain that very inadequate views 
of those duties, have been too often taken, 
both by those who conferred, and those who 
sustained the offi':'e; and that there is a mani- 
fest and loud call for an attempt to raise the 
standard of public sentiment in reference to 
the whole subject. That we make so Iktle of 
this Office, compared with what we might do, 
and ought to do, does really appear to me 
one of the deepest deficiencies of our beloved 
Church. That a reform in this respect is de- 
sirable, is to express but half the truth It is 
necessary ; it is vital. It has plea5^f»d the so- 
vereign Disposer, to cast our lot in a period of 
mighty plans, and of high nwral effi>rt, for the 
^nefit of the world. In the subject of this 



vio. 

volume, I am inclined to think, is w^rappecJ 
ONE of those means which are destined, under 
His blessing, to be richly productive of moral 
energy in the enterprises of Christian benevo-- 
lence, which appear to be every day gatherings 
strength, Whea the Rulers of the Church 
shall, in the genuine spirit of the humble^ 
faithful and laborious Paul^ magnify their 
office;" when they shall be found cordially 
and diligently co-operating with those wha 
labor in the word and doctrine," in in- 
specting, counselling and watching over the 
" jflocks" respectively committed to their ^^over- 
sight in the Lord;" and when they shall be- 
suitably honored and employed, in their va- 
rious appropriate functions, both by Pastors and 
People; this change will, I believe, be, at 
once, one of the surest precursors, and one of 
the most efficient means, of the iiUroductioa 
of brighter days in the Church of God. 

So far as we can anticipate events, this im- 
portant change must begin with the Teachers 
and Rulers of the Church themselves. On 
every one of You, therefore, if my estimate of 
the subject be correct, devolves a high and most 
interesting responsibility. That you may have- 
grace given you to acquit yourselves of thi^ 



vii. 

responsibility, in a manner acceptable to our 
common Master, and conducive to the signal 
advancement of his kingdv.m ; and that future 
generations, both in the Church and out of it, 
may have reason to "rise up and call yotk 
blessed," is the fervent prayer of, 
Reverend and Respected Brethren, 

Your friend and fellow-servant 
in the house of God, 

SAMUEL MILLm 

Princeton, 
April 20, 1831. 




CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Introductory Remarks — iSature of the Church — Visible 
and Invisible Church — Usiny of the Church — A form of gov- 
ernment for the Church appointed by Christ — Nature and 
limits of ecclesiastical power — Summary of the doctrine of 
Presbyterians on this subject — The proper classes of officers 
in a Church completely organized — Positions intended to be 
established, as affording a warrant tor the office of Ruling 
Elders — page 12—30. 

CHAPTER n. 
Testimony from the order of the Old Testament Church- 
Import of the term Elder — Specimen of the representations 
given of this class of officers — Elders of the Synagogue — 
Authorities in reference to the government of the Synagogue— 
The titles, duties, number, mode of sittmg &c., of the Elders 
of the Synagogue — Quotations from distinguished writers 
on this subject — Burnet — Goodwin — LightfootSlillingJleet'^ 
Grotius — Spencei — Clarke — JVeander. — p. 31 — 48 . 

CHAPTER III. 
Evidence from the New Testament Scriptures — Model of 
the Synagogue transferred to the Church — Specimen of the 
passages which speak of the New Testament Elders— Particular 
texts which esta!:)lisji the existence of this class of Elders in the 
primitive Church— Objections to our construction of these 
passages — Answered. — p. 49. 72. 

CHAPTER IV. 
Testimony of the Christian Fathers— C/mm* Romamis—lg- 
mtim — Poly carp— Cyprian — Origen—Geda Purgatioms,&,c 



INDEX. 



Optatus — Ambrose — Augustine — Apostolical Constitutions — Iso- 
dare — Gregory — Facts incidentally stated by the Fathers 
concerning some of the Eiders — Syrian Christians. — p. 73—105. 

CHAPTER V. 
Testimony of the Witnesses for the Truth in the Dark Ag-es, 
— Waldenses — Alhigenses — Bohemian Churches — Calvin deriv- 
ed this feature m his ecclesiastical system from the Bohemian 
Brethren.— p. 106-^119 ' 

CHAPTER VI. 

Testimony of the Reformers — Zuingle—Oecolampadius— 
Bucer — Peter Martyr — John A Lasco — Calvin — Whitgift— 
Dean J^owell — Ursmus — Confession of Saxony — Sz^geden — 
Magdehurgh Centuriators — Junius — Zanchius — Parceus — Pis- 
cator — Cartwight—Greenham — Estius — Whitaker — Ruling Ei- 
ders generally established in the Reformed Churches. — p. 120 
-^144, 

CHAPTER VII. 
Testimony of eminent divines since the Reformation — Owen- 
Baxter — Eng'lish Puritans — of JSTew England — Goodwin 

Hooker — Cotton — Davenport — Thorndike — Cotton Mather 

Edwards — Kromamr— Baldwin— Suicer — Whitby — JVatts — 
Doddridge — JSTeander — Dwight. — p. 1 45 — 171 , 

CHAPTER Vni. 
Ruling Elders necessary in the Church ; — The importanee> 
of Discipline to the purity of the Church—Discipline cannot 
be maintained without this class of officers, or persons of 
equivalent powers — The Pastor alone cannot maintain it — 
The whole body of the Church cannot conduct it in a wise and 
happy manner — Prelatists and Independents both obliged ta 
provide substitutes for them— This provision, however, inade- 
quate.— p. 17:2—191. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Nature of the Rulinof Elder's office — Analogy between their 
office and that of secular rulers — Their duties as members of 
the Church Session — Their more private and constant duties 
as overseers" of the Church — Their duties as members of 
higher judicatories — Question discussed whether they ought 



X. 



INDEX. 



to be called ^«/-Elders — Duties of the Church members to their 
Elders — Elders ought to have a particular seat assigned them, 
—p. 192—215. 

CHAPTEBfX. 
Distinction between the office of Rnhng Elder and Deacon — 
The persons whose appointment to take care of the poor is re- 
corded in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, were 
the Jirsi Deacons — The question discussed, whether they were 
Deacons at all — Whether the tirst Deacons were preachers 
and haptizers? — Deacons were never ecclesiastical Rulers— 
The office of Deacon dropped by many Pi esbyterian C lurches, 
—The offices of Ruling Elder and Deacon united in the same 
men, in Scotland and the United vStates — This not desirable — 
Reasons for this opinion. — p. 216 — 243. 

CHAPTER XL 
The qualifications proper for the office of Ruling Elder- 
It is not necessary that they be aged persons — It is of the ut- 
most importance that they have unfeigned and approved 
piety — That they possess good sense, and sound judgment— 
That they be orthodox, and well informed in gospel truth — 
That they have eminent prudence — That they be of good report 
among them who are without — That thev be men of public spirit^ 
— That they be men of ardent zeal, and importunate prayer. 
p. 244—259. 

CHAPTER Xn. 
Of the Election of Rulmg Eiders— Who are proper Elec- 
tors? — Ought they to be eiectf^d for liJe, or only for a limited 
time ? — Of the number of' Eldefs proper for each Church — Of 
those who may be consi;iered as eligible to this office — whether 
a man may be a Rulirior Eider in more than one Church at the 
same lime. — p. 260—274. 

CHAPTBR XIII. 
Of the Ordination of Ruling Einers — Ordination a necessary 
designation to office— Proofs from Scripture— The laying on of 
hands — Not always connected with the special gifts of the 
Spirit — This ceremony oug-ht to Tie employed in the ordination 
of Ruling Elders— Probaole reason of its falling into disuse- 
Authorities in favor of its restoration— Who ought to lay on 



INDEX. 



xi. 



hands in the Ordination of Elders — Advantages of imposing 
hands in ordaining this class of officers. — p. 275 — 293. 

CHAPTER X[V. 
On the resignation of Ruling Eiders — Their removal from 
one Church to another — The method of conducting discipline 
against them.~p. 294—301. 

CHAPTER XV. 

The advantages of conducting discipline upon the Presby- 
terian plan — It is founded on the principle of Representation — It 
presents one of the best barriers against Clerical ambition and 
encroachments — furnishes one of the best securities for preserv- 
ing the rights of the people — Furnishes to Ministers efficient 
counsel and support — Favorable to despatch and energy — Ac- 
complishes that which cannot be attained in any other way — 
Favorable to union and co-operation in enterprizes of Christian 
benevolence — p. 302—322. 



AN ESSAY, 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY, 

Our once crucified, but now exalted Redeemer, lia& 
erected in this world a kingdom which is his Church. 
This Church is either visible or invisible. 

By the invisible Church we mean, the whole bod}^ 
of sincere believers, of every age and nation, "that have 
been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, 
the glorious Head thereof." Part of these are already 
made perfect in heaven. Another portion are at present 
scattered over the earth in different denominations of 
professing Christians, though not certainly distinguish- 
able from others by the human eye. And the remaindei- 
are in future to be gathered in by the grace of God;— 
when the whole number of the "redeemed from among 
men," will be united in one holy assembly, which is 
the "spouse," the "body of Christ, the fulness of Him 
that filleth all in all." 

By the visible Church is meant the body of those 
who profess the true religion, together with their 
children. It is that body which is called out of the 
world, and united under the authority of Christ, the 
Head, for the purpose of maintaining Gospel Truth 

B 



14 



INTRODUCTORY. 



and Order, and promoting the knowledge, purity, 
comfort and edification of all the members. When 
we use the term Church, as expressive of a visible, 
professing body, we either mean the whole visible 
Church of God throughout the world, or a particular 
congregation of professing Christians, who have agreed 
to unite togetlfer for the purpose of mutual instruction; 
inspection and edification.* 

The word Church is also employed in scripture to 
designate a Church Judicatory ; that is, the Church 
assembled and acting by her representatives^ the 
Elders, chosen to inspect, and bear rule over the whole 
body. This, it is beheved, will be evident to those 
who impartially consult Matthew xviii. 15 — 18; and 
compare the language of the original here, with that 
of the original, and the Greek translation of the Seventy, 
of Deuteronomy xxxi. 28 — 30. 

The visible Church is a spiritiial body. That is. 
it is not secular or loorldly^ either in its nature or 

* It has been asserted by some, that the term Church not only 
means, strictly, a religious assembly — a body of professing peo- j 
pie; but that it cannot be applied, with propriety, to any thing- ij 
else; and that it is altogether improper to apply it, as is often | 
done, to the building in which the assembly is wont to convene ;j 
for worship. This is, undoubtedly, a groundless scruple. Under j 
the Old Testament economy, it is plain th&t the word syna^o^ve 1 
was indiscriminately applied both to the public assembly, and 
to the edifice in which they worshipped. Besides, the word 
Church is evidently derived from the Greek words, au^tcv oiKog, 
"the house of the Lord;" and therefore, may be considered | 
as pointing quite as distinctly to the edifice as to the wor- 
shippers. Nay, it is highly probable that the word in its i 
orifi^inal use, had a primary reference to the house rather than 
to the assembly. And even if it were not so, still the under- i 
standing and use of the word in this double sense, if once agreed 
upon cannot be considered as liable, so far as is perceived, to ^ 
any particular objection or abuse. ' \ 



INTRODUCTORY. 



15 



objects. The kingdom of Christ "is not of this world." 
Its Head, laws, ordinances, discipline, penalties, and 
end, are all spiritual. There can be no departure 
from this principle ; in other words, there can be no 
connexion between the Church and the State ; no 
enforcement of ecclesiastical laws by the power of the 
secular arm, or by "carnal weapons," mthout departing 
from "the simplicity that is in Christ," and invading 
both the purity and safety of his sacred body. 

This great visible Church is one, in all ages, and 
throughout the world. From its first formation in 
the family of Adam, through aH the changes of the 
Patriarchal, Mosaic and Christian dispensations, it 
has been one and the same ; having the same divine 
Head, the same ground of hope, the same essentia] 
characters, and the same great design. Diversity of 
denomination does not destroy this unity. All who 
profess the true religion, together with their offspring, 
however divided by place, by names, or by forms, are 
to be considered as equally belonging to that great 
family denominated the Church. The Presbyterian, 
the Episcopalian, the Methodist, the Baptist, and the 
Independent, who hold the fundamentals of our holy 
religion, in whatever part of the globe they may reside, 
are all equally members of the same visible community : 
and, if they be sincere, will all finally be made partakers 
of its eternal blessings. They cannot, indeed, all 
worship together in the same solemn assembly, even 
if they were disposed to do so : — and the sin and folly 
of men have separated into different bodies those who 
ought to " wall^ together." Still the visible Church is 
one. All who " hold the Head," of course, belong to 
the body of Christ. "We, being many," says the 
inspired Apostle, " are one body in Christ, and every 
one members one of another." Those who are united 



INTRODUCTORY. 



by a sound profession to the same almighty Head ; 
who embrace the same " precious faith who are sanc- 
tified by the same Spirit ; who eat the same spiritual 
meat ; who drink the same spiritual drink ; who 
repose and rejoice in the same promises ; and who are 
travelling to the same eternal rest — are surely one 
BODY, — in a sense more richly significant than can 
be ascribed to millions who sustain a mere nominal 
unity. 

This unity is very distinctly recognized, and very 
happily expressed, by p^/pr^^^?^, a distinguished Christian 
Father of the thiid century. " The Church," says he, 
"is one^ which, by its fruitful increase, is enlarged into 
a multitude. As the rays of the sun, though many, are 
yet one luminary ; as the branches of a tree, though 
numerous, are all established on one firmly rooted 
trunk ; and as many streams springing from the same 
fountain, though apparently dispersed abroad by their 
overflowing abundance, yet have their unity preserved 
by one common origin; — so the Church, though it 
extends its rays throughout the world, is one Light. 
Though every where diffused, its unity is not broken. 
By the abundance of its increase, it extends its branches 
through the whole earth. It spreads far and wide its 
flowing streams ; yet it has one Head ; one Fountain ; 
one Parent ; and is enriched and enlarged by the 
issues of its own fruitfulness."* 

It is ever also to be borne in mind that the Church 
is not a mere voluntary association^ with which men 
are at liberty to connect themselves Or not, as they 
please. For, although the service which God requires 
of us is throughout a voluntary one : although no one 
can properly come into the Church but as a matter of 



* De Unitate Ecclesice, Seet. iv^. 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

voluntary choice : although the idea of either secular or 
ecclesiastical compulsion is, here, at once unreasonable 
and contrary to Scripture : yet, as the Church is Christ's 
institution, and not men's ; and as the same divine 
authority which requires us to repent of sin, and 
believe in Christ, also requires us to " confess him 
before men," and to join ourselves to his professing 
people ; is is evident that no one is at liberty, in the 
sight of God, to neglect uniting himself with the 
Church. Man cannot, and ought not, to compel him ; 
but if he refuse to fulfil this duty, when it is in his 
power, he rejects the authority of God. He, of course, 
refuses at his peril. 

Of this body, Christ alone, as before intimated, is the ^ 
Head. He only has a right to give law^s to his Church, 
or to institute rites and ordinances for her observance. 
His will is the supreme guide of his professing people ; 
his Word their code of laws ;. and his glory their ultimate 
end. The authority of Church officers is not original, 
but subordinate and delegated : that is, as they are 
his servants, and act under his commission, and in his 
name, they have power only to declare what the 
Scriptures reveal as his will, and to pronounce senterlce 
accordingly. If they attempt to establish any other 
terms of communion than those which his word war- 
rants ; or undertake to exercise authority in a manner 
which He has not authorised, they incur guilt, and have 
no right to exact obedience. 

In this sacred community. Government is absolutely 
necessary. Even in the perfectly holy and harmonious 
society of heaven, there is government; that is, there 
is law and authority, under which the whole celestial 
family is united in perfect love, and unmingled enjoy- 
ment. Much more important and indispensable is 
government among fallen depraved men, among whom 
b2 



18 



INTRODUCTORY. 



^' it is impossible but that offences will come," and to 
whom the discipUne of scriptural and pure ecclesiastical 
rule, is one of the most precious means of grace. To 
thin'k of maintaining any society, ecclesiastical or civil, 
without government, in this depraved world, would be 
to contradict every principle of reason and experiencej 
as well as of Scripture : and to think of supporting 
government without officers, to whom its functions 
may be intrusted, would be to embrace the absurd hope 
of obtaining an end without the requisite means. 

The question. Whether any particular form of Church 
government is so laid down in Scripture, as that the 
claim of divine right may be advanced on its behalf; 
and that, of consequence, the Church is bound, in all 
ages, to adopt and act upon it; — will not now be 
formally discussed. It has been made the subject of 
too much extended and ardent controversy, to be 
brought within the compass of a few sentences, or even 
a few pages. It may not be improper, however, briefly 
to say, that it would, indeed, have been singular, if a 
community, called out of the world, and organized 
under the peculiar authority of the all-wise Redeemer, 
had, been left entirely without any direction as to 
its government: — That the Scriptures, undoubtedly^ 
exhibit to us a form of ecclesiastical organization and 
rule, which was, in fact, instituted by the Apostles, 
under the direction of infinite Wisdom : — That this 
form was evidently taken, with very little alteration, 
from the preceding Economy, thus giving additional 
presumption in its favour : — That we find the same 
plan closely copied by the churches for a considerable 
time after the apostohc age : — That it continued to be in 
substance the chosen and universal form of government 
in the Church, until corruption, both in doctrine and 
practice, had, through the ambition and degeneracy of 



INTRODUCTORY. 



19 



ecclesiastics, gained a melancholy prevalence :~And, 
that the same form was also substantially maintained 
by the most faithful witnesses for the truth, during the 
dark ages,— until the great body of the Reformers took 
it fi-om their hands, and estabhshed it in thek respective 
ecclesiastical connexions. 

These premises would appear abundantly to warrant 
the conclusion, that the form of Government which 
answers this description, is the wisest and best ; that 
it is adapted to all ages and states of society ; and that 
it is agreeable to the will of Christ that it be universally 
received in his Church. All this the writer of the 
following Essay fully believes may be established in 
favour of Presbyterianism. There seems no reason, 
however, to beheve, with some zealous votaries of the 
hierarchy^ that any particular form of government is in 
so rigorous a sense of divine right, as to be essential 
to the existence of the Church ; so that where this form 
is wanting, there can be no Church. To adopt this 
opinion, is to take a very narrow and unscriptural view 
of the covenant of grace. After yielding to the visible 
Church and its ordinances, all the importance which the 
word of God warrants, still it cannot he doubted that, on 
the one hand, men in regular external membership 
with the purest Church on earth, may be hypocrites, 
and perish ; and on the other, that all who cordially 
repent of sin, and receive the Saviour in spir it and in 
truth, will assm-edly obtain eternal Hfe, although they 
never enjoyed the privilege of a connexion with any 
portion of the visible Church on earth. The tenor of 
the Gospel covenant is— He that believeth on the Son 
of God hath eternal life, and shall not come into 
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life; 
but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, 
but the wrath of God abideth on him. 



20 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Still it is plain, from the word of God, as well as from 
uniform experience, that the government of the Church 
is a matter of great importance; that the form as well as 
the administration of that government is more vitally . 
connected with the peace, purity and edification of the 
Church, than many Christians appear tobeheve; and, 
of consequence, that it is no small part of fidelity to 
our Master in heaven to hold fast" the form of 
ecclesiasticat order, as well as the " form of sound 
words" which He has dehvered to the saints. 

The existence of ecclesiastical Rulers, presupposes 
the existence and exercise of ecclesiastical poioer. A 
few remarks on the nature, source and limits of this - 
power, may not be irrelevant as a part of this prehminary 
discussion. 

When we speak of ecclesiastical power, then, we 
speak of that which, much as it is misunderstood, and 
deplorably as it has been perverted and abused, is plainly 
warranted, both by reason and Scripture. In fact, it is 
a prerogative which common sense assigns and secures 
to all organized society, from a family to a nation. The 
doctrine attempted to be maintained by the celebrated 
Erastus, in his work, De hxcommunicatione, Viz : 
that the exercise of all Church pov/er, however modified, 
is to be rejected as forming an imperium in imperio^ 
is one of the most weak and untenable of all positions. 
The same argument would preclude all authority or 
government subordinate to that of the State, whether 
domestic, academical, or financial. The truth is, there 
not only may be, but there actuaUy are thousands 
of imperia in imperio, in every civil community in 
the world ; and all this without the least danger or 
inconvenience, as long as the smaller or subordinate 
governments maintain their proper place, and do not 



INTRODUCTORY. 



21 



claim, or attempt to exercise, powers which come m 
collision with those of the State. 

Now the power exercised by the Church is of this 
character. Christ is the Sovereign. His kingdom is 
spiritual. It interferes not with civil government. It 
may exist and flourish under any form of political 
administration; and always fares best when entirely left 
to itself, without the interference of the civil magistrate. 
Accordingly, it is notorious, that the power of which 
we speak, was exercised by the Church, in the days 
of the Apostles, and during the first three centuries of 
the Christian era, not only without any aid from the 
secular arm, but while all the civil governments of the 
world were firmly leagued against her, and following 
her with the bitterest persecution. But the moment 
the Church became allied with the State, that moment 
the influence of each on the other became manifestly 
mischievous. The State enriched, pampered, and 
corrupted the Church ; and the Church, in her turn^ 
gradually extended her power over the State, until she 
claimed, and in some instances gained, a haughty 
supremacy over all rulers and governments. This is 
an ecclesiastical power which the Bible no where 
recognizes or allows. It is the essence of spiritual 
usurpation : and can never have a place but where the 
essential character of the religion of Jesus Christ, 
is misapprehended or forgotten. This abominable 
tyranny, so long and so wick^edly maintained in the 
name of the meek and lowly Saviour, who, instead of 
countenancing, always condemned it; — has prejudiced 
the minds of many against ecclesiastical power in any 
form. On account of this prejudice it is judged proper 
to state, with some degree of distinctness, what we 
mean when we speak of the Church of Christ as being 



22 



INTRODUCTORY. 



invested with power for the benefit of her members, 
and for the glory of her almiofhty Head. 

It is evident that leven if the Church were a mere 
voluntary association, which neither possessed nor 
claimed any divine warrant, it would have the same 
powers w^hich are universally c-nceded to all other 
voluntary associations ; that is, the pov/er of fonning 
its own rules, of judging of the qualmcations of its 
own members, and of admitting or excluding, as the 
essential principles and interests of the body might 
require.; and all this as long as neither the rules 
themselves, nor the execution of them, infringed the 
laws of the State, or violated any pubhc or private 
rights. When a Literary, Philosophical, or Agricultural 
Society claims and exercises powers of this kind, all 
reflecting people consider it as both reasonable and 
safe ; and would no more thin.': of denying the right 
to do so, than they would thinfc of denying that the 
father of a family had a right lo govern his own 
household, as long as he neither transgressed any law 
of the State, nor invaded the peace of his neighbors. 

But the Christian Chmch is by no means to be con- 
sidered as a mere voluntary association. It is a Body 
called out of the world, created by divine institution, 
and created, as its members believe, for the express 
purpose of bearing testimony for C hrist, in the midst 
of a revolted and rebellious world, and maintaining in 
their purity the truth and ordinances which He has 
appointed. The members of this body, therefore, by 
the act of uniting themselves with it, profess to believe 
certain doctrines, to be under obhgation to perform 
certain duties, and to be bound to possess a certain 
character. Of course, the very purpose for which, and 
^he very terms on which the Master has formed this 



INTRODUCTORY. 



23 



]x)dy, and bound its members together, necessarily 
imply, not only the right, but the duty, of refusing to 
admit those who are manifestly hostile to the essential 
principles of it- institution, and of casting out those who, 
after their admission, as manifestly depart from those 
■principles. To suppose less than this, would be to 
suppose that a God of infinite wisdom has withheld 
from a .body, formed for a certain purpose, that which 
is absolutely necessary for its defence against intrusion, 
insult, and perversion : in other words, for its own 
preservation. 

Hence the Apostle Paul^ after the New Testament 
Church was erected, speaks (1 Cor. xii. 28.) of "go- 
vernments," as well as " teachers" being " set in it" by 
the authority of God. He expressly claims, (2 Cor, x. 
8.) an "authority" which God had given to his servants 
as rulers in the Church, " for edification, and not for 
destruction." And he exemplifies this authority by 
representing it as properly exercised in casting out of 
the Church, any one who was immoral or profane; 
{ICor. V.) Hence the officers of the Church are spoken 
of as " guides," {t\y^^j\kSwC), " overseers," or " bishops" 
(s'ffjtfxo'Troi) and " rulers, (^^osjtwts^) :— and it is declared 
to be their duty, not only to instruct, warn, and entreat; 
but also to " rebuke," or authoritatively to admonish 
and censure. They were commanded by the authority 
of the Head of the Church (1 Cor. v. Tit. iii. 10.) to 
" reject," to " put away from them," after using proper 
admonition, those who were grossly heretical or im- 
moral. In short, in that period of gospel simplicity 
and purity, the Church claimed no authority over any 
but her own members ; and even over them, no other 
authority than that which related to their character, 
duties, and interests as members, and was deemed 
essential to her own well-beirig. 



24 



INTRODUCTORY. 



And as this power of the Church is not self-created, 
or self-assumed, but derived from her gracious and 
almighty Head ; and as it is, and can, of right, only 
be, exercised over her own members ; so it is merely 
spiritual in its nature ; in other words, it claims no 
right whatever to inflict temporal pains or penalties. 
It cannot touch the persons or property of those to 
whom it is directed. It addresses itself only to their 
judgments and consciences. It includes only a right to 
instruct, warn, rebuke, censure, and cast out, that is, to 
exclude from the privileges of the body. This last 
step, is the utmost length to which it can go. When 
the Church has excluded from her pale those toward 
whom this power is diiected ; in other words, when 
she has declared them out of her communion or 
fellowship, she has done every thing to which her 
power extends. All beyond this is usurpation and 
oppression. The great end of Church Government, is 
not to employ physical force ; but moral weapons only. 
It can never invade the right of private judgment. It 
can never exert its power over any but those who volun- 
tarily submit to it. And it prescribes no sanctions but 
those which have for their object the moral benefit of the 
body itself, and also of the individuals to whom they 
are awarded. The gospel knows nothing of delivering 
men over to the secular arm, to be punished for offences 
against the Church. The Church might, therefore, 
exert her whole power, in its plenary extent, though 
all the governments of the world were arrayed against 
her in the bitterest hostility, as they have once been, 
and as they may again be found. 

And, as all the power of the Church is derived, not 
from the civil government, but from Christ, the al- 
migjity King of Zion ; and as it is purely spiritual in 
its nature and sanctions; so the power of Church 



INTRODUCTORY. 



25 



Officers is merely ministerial They are, strictly, 
servants, who are to be governed, in all things, by the 
pleasure of their employer. They have only authority to 
announce what the Master has said, and to decide 
agreeably to that will which he has made known in his 
word. Like ambassadors at a foreign court, they 
cannot go one jot or tittle beyond their instructions. 
Of course, they have no right to set up a law of their 
own. The Bible is the great Statute-Book of the body 
of which we speak; the only infallible rule of faith and 
practice. And nothing can be rightfully inculcated on 
the members of the Church, as truth, oi demanded of 
them, as duty, but that which is found in that great 
charter of the privileges as well as the obhgations of 
Christians. 

To complete the view of that ecclesiastical power 
which we consider as implied in Church government, 
it is only necessary to add, that it is given solely for the 
benefit of the Church, and not for the aggrandizement 
of Church Officers. Tyrants in civil government have 
taught, and acted upon the principle, that the great 
end of all political estabhshments, is the exaltation of a 
few at the expense of the many. And it is deeply to 
be deplored that the same principle has been too often ap- 
parently adopted by bodies calUng themselves Churches 
of Christ. Nothing can be more opposite than this, to 
the spirit and law of the Redeemer, l^he "authority" 
which the apostle claims as existing, and to be exercised 
in the Church, he represents (2 .Cor. x. 8.) as given 

for edification, and not for destruction." Not for the 
purpose of creating and pampering classes of privilegecj 
©rders," to "lord it over God's heritage;" not to build 
up a system of polity, which may minister to the pride 
or the cupidity of an ambitious priesthood; not to form 

o 



26 



INTRODUCTORY. 



a body, under the title of clergy^ A\ith separate interestv 
from the laity of the i hurch. All this is as Avicked as 
it is unreasonable. No office, no power is appointed by 
Jesus Christ in his Church, but that which is necessary 
to the instruction, the purity and the happiness of the 
whole body. All legitimate government here, as well as 
elsewhere, is to be ccnsiaered as a means, not an end ; 
and as no further resting on divine authority, than we 
can say in support of all its claims and acts, "thus saith 
the Lord;" than it is adapted to build up the great 
family of those who profess the true l eligion, in know- 
ledge, peace and hohness unto salvation. 

The summaiy of the doctrine of Presbyterians, then, 
concerning ecclesisastical power, may be considered as 
comprehended in the following propositions: 

1. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the only King and 
Head of the Church, the Fountain of all power ; and 
that no man, or set of men, have any right to consider 
themselves as holding the place of his vicar, or refve- 
sentative. 

2. That the Bible contains the code of laws which 
Christ has enacted, and given for the government of 
his Church: and that it k the only infallible rule of 
faith and practice. 

3. That his kingdom is not of this Avorid; and of 
course, that the Church can take no cognizance of any 
other concerns than those Avhich relate to .the spiritual 
interests of men. 

4. That the povv^ei of Church officers is not original; 
or inherent, but altogether derived and ministerial. 
They have no other authority than, as his servants, and 
in his name, to proclaim the truth which he has declared^ 
and to urge to the performance of those duties which 
he has commanded- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



27 



5. That nothing can be lawfully required of any 
one as a member of the Church, excepting what is 
expressly taught in Scripture ; or, by good and necessary 
consequence to be inferred from what is expressly taught 
there. 

6. That the Church being instituted by Christ for 
the chief purpose of maintaining in their purity the 
doctrines and ordinances of Christ, is authorized and 
bound by Him to refuse admission to her fellowship 
those who are known to be hostile to this purpose, and 
to exclude such as are found to offend against this 
purpose after admission. 

7. That the discipline and penalties of the Church 
are wholly of a moral kind, consisting of admonition, 
entreaty, warning, suspension, and excommunication; 
and that exclusion from the fellowship of the body, is 
the highest penalty that can be inflicted on any dehn- 
quent. 

8. That the apostolic Church, though under the 
bitterest persecution, was instructed by the inspired 
apostles to exercise the pov/er mentioned, and did 

. actually exercise the same ; and is to be considered 
as therein exemplifying and teaching the principles 
which ought to regulate the Church in all ages. 
- 9. That the Church can exercise no authority over 
any others than her own members. 

10. That none can be compelled to be members, or 
to submit to her authority any longer than they choose 
to do so. 

11. That the authority of the Church cannot be 
lawfully exercised for any other purpose than to promote 
the purity, order and edification of the whole body; 
and that of course, any exertion of Church power which 
}ias for its object the aggrandizement of ecclesiastics, 



INTROnUCTaHY. 

at the expense of the body of the Church, is an 
unscriptural abuse. And, 

12. Finally; that all civil establishments of religion, 
in any form, or under any denomination, are \vrong ; 
contrary to the spirit of Christianity; injurious to the 
best interests of the Church; and really more to be 
deprecated by the enlightened friends of piety, than the 
most sanguinary persecution that can be inflicted b} 
the arm of power. 

In every Church completely organized, that ib*, fur- 
nished with all the officers which Christ has instituted, 
and which are necessary for carrying into full effect the 
laws of his kingdom, there ought to be three classes of 
officers, viz.: at least one I'eaching Elder, Bishop, or 
Pastor—^ bench of Riding Etders—stnd Deacons. 
The first to " minister in the Word and Doctrine," and 
to dispense the Sacraments ; — the second to assist in 
the inspection and government of the Church ;— and 
the third to " serve tables;" that is, to take care of the 
Church's funds destined for the support of the poor, and 
sometimes to manage Avhatever relates to the temporal 
support of the gospel and its ministers. 

The following Essay will be devoted to the considera- 
tion of the SECOND CLASS of these officers, namely 
RULING ELDERS, and the points which it is proposed 
more particularly to discuss, are the following :— The 

Church's warrant for this class of officers ; The 

NATURE, design AND DUTIES of the officc itself ;— The 
QUALIFICATIONS proper for those who bear it ;— Thr^ 
DISTINCTION between this office, and that of deacons; 
By whom Ruling Elders ought to be elected ;— in 
what manner they should be ordained ;— The principles 
which ought to regulate their withdrawing or being 



INTRODUCTORY. 



29 



DEPOSED from office, removing from one Clmrcli to 
another, ifec and, finally, the advantages attending 
this form of government in the Church. 

The question, whether the Church has any warrant 
for this class of officers, mil have different degrees of 
importance attached to it by different persons. Those, 
who believe that no form of Church government whatever 
can justly claim to be, in any sense, oi divine right, will, 
of course, consider this inquiiy as of small moment. If 
the Church be at perfect liberty, at all tunes, to adopt 
what foiTii of government she pleases, and to modify, or 
entirely to change the same at pleasure ; then no other 
warrant than her own convenience or \^dll, ought to be 
requii-ed. But if the wiiter of the following pages be 
correct in believing, that the]-e is a form of government 
for the family of God laid down in Scripture, to which 
it is the duty of the Church, in all ages, to conform : 
then the inquiry which it is the purpose of several of the 
succeeding chapters to pursue, is plainly unportant, and 
demands our serious attention. 

It is believed, then, that the following positions, in 
reference to the office now under consideration may be 
firmly maintained, viz : That undei- the Old Testament 
economy in general, and especially in the Synagogue 
service, Elders were invariably appointed to exercise 
authority and bear rule in ecclesiastical society ; — That 
similar Elders, after the model of the Synagogue, were 
appointed in the primitive Church, under the direction of 
inspired apostles ; — That we find in the writings of some 
of the early Fathers e\ddent traces of the same office as 
existing in their times ; — That the Wa ldenses, and other 
pious Witnesses for the truth, during the dark ages, 
retained this class of officers in the Church, as a divhie 
institution -That the Reformers, with verv few ex 
c2 . 



30 



INTRODUCTORY, 



ceptions, when they separated from the cormptions ot 
Popery, restored this office to the Church. That a number 
of distinguished Divines and Churches, not othemise 
Presbyterian, who have flourished since the Reformation , 
have remarkably concmred in declaring for the same 
office ; — and, finally, that RuHng Elders, or officers of a 
similar kind, are indispensably necessary in every well 
ordered congregation. Each of these topics of argumer«,t 
is entitled to, seiparate consideration. 



CHAPTER ri. 



TESTIMONY FROal THE ORDER, OF THE OLD TEt 
TAMENT CHURCH. 

It is impossible fully to understand either the spirit, 
the facts, or the nomenclatui'e of the New Testament, 
mthout going back to the Old. The Chiistian religion 
is founded upon that of the Jews; or rather is the 
completion of it. The latter was the infancy and adoles 
cence of that body of which the former is the manhood. 
And it is remarkable, that no class of theologians more 
strenuously contend for the connexion between the 
Jewish and Chiistian economies, and the impracticabihty 
of takmg inteUigent views of the one, without some 
previous knowledge of the other, than most of those who 
. deny the apostolic origin of the class-of officers now under 
consideration. With all such persons, then, we jom issue. 
And, as a very large part of the titles and functions ot 
ecclesiastical officers, were, evidently transmitted fi:om 
the ceremonial to the spiritual economy, it is indis- 
pensably necessary, in order fuUy to understand theU" 
character, to go back to their source. 

The term. Elder, correspmiding with Jpt, in Hebrew, 
and c^eatfguTegog, in Greek, hterally signifies an aged 
person, ^Among the Jews, and the eastern nations 
creneraUy, persons advanced in life were commonly 
Elected to fill stations of dignity and authority, because 



32 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



they were supposed to possess most wisdom, gravity, 
pmdence and experience. From this circmnstance, the 
term Elder, became, in process of time, and by a na- 
tural association of ideas, an established title of office.* 
Accordingly, the Jews gave this title to most of their 
officers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, long before Syna- 
gogues were established. From the time of Moses, 
they had Elders over the nation, as well as over every 
city, and smaller community. These are repeatedly 
represented as inspectors, and rulers of the people; as 
••officers set over them:" and, indeed, throughout their 
history, there is every reason to beheve that the body of 
the people never, themselves, exercised governmental 
acts ; but chose their Elders, to whom aH the details 
of judicial and executive authority, under their divine 
Legislator and Sovereign, were constantly committed. 

The following specimen of the representation given on 
this subject, in various parts of the Old Testament, wiW 
suffice, at once, to iUustrate and establish what is here 
advanced. Even while the children of Israel were in 
Egypt, they seem to have had Elders, in the official 
sense of the word; for Jehovah, in sending Moses to 
deliver them, said. Go, and gather the Elders of Israel 

* It has been often remarked, that the ancient official use of thi« 
word, as implying- wisdom and experience, is still preserved in 
many modern languages, in ^^\x\ch Seigneur. Signior, Senator and 
other similar words, are used to express both dignity and authori- 
ty. It is evident that all these words, and some others which might 
be mentioned, are derivatives from the Latin word, Senior It is 
no less plain, that the title of the Magistrates of Cities and 
J^oroughs, who aie called Aldermen, or Eldermen, is from the 
same origin with our modern term Elder. Many of the titles Of 
respect, both in the Eastern and Western world, were it proper 

1 1^1:::^ ^^^p^^' ^^^^^ ^^^-^ ^-^t 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



33 



together, and say unto them, The Lord hath visited 
l/ou, and hath seen ivhat is done to yaii in Egypt ; 
Exodus iii. 16. In the wilderness, the Elders ef Israel 
are spoken of as called together by Moses, appealed to 
by Moses, and officially acting under that divinely 
commissioned leader, on occasions almost innumerable. 
These Elders appear to have been of different grades, 
and endowed, of course, with different ^ow^^' Exod. 
xvii. 5. xviii. 12. xxiv. 1, 9. Numbers xi. 16. Deuteron. 
XXV. 7—9. xxix. 10. xxxi. 9. 28. From these and other 
passages, it would seem, they had seventy Elders over 
the nation ; and besides these, Elders over thousands, 
over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens, who were all 
charged with inspection and rule in their respective 
spheres. Again, we find inspectors and rulers of the 
people, under the name of Elders, existing, and on all 
public occasions, acting in their official character, in the 
time oi Joshua; during the period of the ji^rf^es; under 
the kings, especially during the most favored and 
happy season of their idngly dominion; probably during 
the captivity in Babylon ; and, beyond all doubt, as 
soon as they returned from captivity, and became settled 
in their own land; until the Synagogue system was 
regularly established as the stated means of popular 
instruction and worship. 

When the Synagogue service was instituted, is a 
question which has been so much controverted, and is 
of so much real uncertainty, that the discussion of it will 
not be attempted in this place, especially as it is a question 
of no sort of importance in the inquiry now before us. 
All that it is necessary for us to assume, is that it existed, 
at the time of our Lord's advent, and for a considerable 
time before ; and that the Jews had l>een long accustomed 
to its order and wship; which no one, it is presumed. 



34 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



will think of questioning. Now, whatever might have 
been its origin, nothing can be more certain, than that, 
from the earliest notices we have of the institution, and 
through its whole history, its leading officers consisted of 
a bench of Elders, who were appointed to bear rule in 
the congregation; who formed a kind of Consistory, 
or ecclesiastical judicatory ; — to receive apphcants for 
admission into the Church; to watch over the people, as 
well in reference to theii- morals, as their obedience to 
ceremonial and ecclesiastical order; to administer disci- 
pline when necessary; and, in short, as the representa^ 
tives of the Chm ch or congregation, to act in their name 
and behalf ; to " bind" and " loose ;" and to see that 
every thing Vv^as "done decently and in order." 

It is not forgotten that a few eminent wi'iters, foUo^ving 
the celebrated German erroi ist, Eraslus, have contended 
that there was no ecclesiastical govei nment among the 
Jews distinct from the civil; and that, of course, there 
were no rulers of the Synagogue, separate fi-om the civil 
judges. Those who w^sh to see this error satisfactorily 
refiited, and the existence of a distinct ecclesiastical 
government among that people clearly established, may 
consult what has been written on the subject, by the 
learned Gillespie,'' by professor Riaherford,j by Bishop 
Stillingfleet,t and others; from whose writings they 
will be convinced, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the 
civil and ecclesiastical judicatories were really distinct; 
that the persons composing each, as well as their 
respective spheres of judgment, were peculiar; and thai 
the latter existed long after the civil sovereignty of the 
Jewish people was taken away. 

* Aaron's Rod, &c. Lond. 4to. 1646. 

t Divine Right of Church. Government. &c. Lond, 4to. 1646. 
t Irenicum. Part 2. Chapter 6. - " 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



35 



There has been, indeed, much diversity of opinion 
among learned men, concerning a variety of questions 
which arise in reference tothese Elders of the Synagogue. 
As, for example, whether there was a difference of rank 
among them? Whether some were teachers as well as 
rulers, and others rulers only ? Whether there was any 
diversity in their ordination, &c., &;c.? But while 
eminent waiters on Jewish antiquities have differed, and 
continue to differ, in relation to these points, they are all 
perfectly agreed in one point, namely, that in every 
Synagogue there was a bench of Elders, consisting of at 
least three persons, w^ho were charged with the whqle 
inspection, government, and discipline of the Synagogue; 
who, as a court or bench of rulers, received, judged, 
censured, excluded, and, in a word, performed every 
judicial act, necessary to the regularity and welfare of 
the congi-egation. In this general fact, Vitringa, Selden, 
Voetius, Marck, Grotitis, Lightfoot, Blondel, ^al~ 
masius, and, indeed, so far as I can now recollect, all 
^he writers on this subject, who deserve to be represented 
as high authorities, substantially agree. And in support 
of this fact, they quote Philo, Josephus, Maimonides, 
Benjamin of Tudela, and the great mass of other 
Jewish witnesses, who are considered as holding the 
first rank among Rabbinical authorities. Indeed, they 
speak of the fact as too unquestionable to demand any 
formal array of testimony for its confu'mation.* 

Accordingly, we find various passages in the New 

* When the unanimous agreement of these learned writers is 
asserted, it is not meant to be alleged that t^pey all entertain the 
same views of the Elders of the Svnagogue, as to all particulars ; 
but simply that they all unite in m-^intaining that there was, in 
every Synagogue, such a bench of Elders, who conducted its 
discipline, and managed its affairs^. * 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



Testament history, which refer to these Ruling Elders* 
as belonging to the old economy, then drawing to a 
close, and v/hich admit, it would appear, of no other 
interpretation than that which supposes their existence. ■ 
The following specimen will suffice; Mark^ v» 22. 
Arid^ behold^ there cometh one of the rulers of the 
Synagogue^ Jairiis by name; and when he saw him, 
he fell at his feet; Acts xiii. 15. And after the reading 
of the law and the jprophets, the riders of the 
Synagogue sent unto them, saying, ye men and 
brethren, if ye have any ivord of exhortation for the 
people, say on. On this latter passage, Dr. Gill, an 
eminent master of oriental, and especially of rabbinical 
learning, in his Commentary, mites thus — " the rulers 
of the Synagogue sent unto them : that is, those who 
were the principal men in the Synagogue; the Ruler of 
it, together with the Elders; for there was but one 
Ruler in a Synagogue, though there were more Elders; 
and so the Syriac version here renders it, the Elders of 
the Synagogue.^^ By this language, as I understand 
the Doctor, he does not mean to intimate that, the other 
Elders, of whom he here speaks, did not bear rule in 
the Synagogue ; but that there was only one, who, by 
w^ay of eminence, w^as called, "the Ruler of the 
Synagogue;" that is, who presided dii Xheix meetings 
for official business. It is plain, however, that, even in 
this assertion, he is in some degree in error; for more 
than once we find a plurality of persons in single 
Synagogues spoken of as "Rulers." 

The learned Vitringa, who, undoubtedly, is entitled 
to a very high pTace in the list of authorities on this 
subject, is of the opinion, that all who occupied a place 
with the bench of Elders in the Synagogue, were of one 
and the same rank or order; that they all received one 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



87 



und the same ordination; and were, of course, equally 
authorised to preach, when duty or inclination called 
them to this part of the public service, as well as to rule. 
And in this opinion he is joined by some others, whose 
judgment is worthy of the highest respect. But, at the 
same time, this eminent man freely grants, that a 
majority of the Elders of the Synagogue were not, in 
fact^ ordinarily employed in teaching or preaching: 
that this part of the public service was principally imder 
the direction of the chief Ruler, or Head of each 
Synagogue, who attended to it himself, or called on one 
of the other Elders, or even any other learned Doctor 
who might be present, and who was deemed capable 
of addressing the people in an instructive and acceptable 
manner; and that the chief business of the mass of the 
Eiders was to rule.* The correctness of this opinion 
has been questioned. A number of other writers, quite 
his equals, both in talents and learning, and especially 
quite as conversant with Jewish authorities, have main 
tained, that a majority of the Elders in the Synagogue, 
were neither chosen nor set apart to the function of 
teachings but to that of ruling only. But, in the want 
of absolute certainty which exists on this subject, and 
for the sake of argument, I am willing to acquiesce in 
Vitringa's opinion. Suppose it to have been as he 
alleges? This is quite sufficient for our purpose. If it 
be conceded, that there was, in every Synagogue, a, 
bench of Elders, who, as a judicial body, were entrusted 
with the whole government and disciphne of the con 
gregation;— that a majority of these Elders seldom or 
never preached, but were, in fact (whatever right they 
might have had) chie% occupied as ecclesiastical rulers; 



De Synugoga Fetere, Lib. iii. Par. i. Cap. 7. 



38 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



and that all ecclesiastical matters, instead of being 
discussed and decided by the congi-egation at large, were 
constantly committed to the judicial deliberation and 
decision of this Eldership ; — if these things be granted, — 
and they are granted, in substance, by every writer, 
entitled to be referred to as an authority, with whom V 
am acquainted; — it is all that can be considered as 
material to the purpose of our argument. This will 
appear more fully in the sequel. 

These officers of the S}-nagogue were called by 
different names^ as we learn from the New Testament, 
and from the most respectable Jewish authorities. The 
most common and familiar name, perhaps, was that of 
Elders^ as before stated at large. They were also 
called Rulers of the Synagogue; a title of frequent 
occurrence in the New Testament, as applied to the 
whole bench of the Elders in question ; but which would 
seem, from some passages, to have been, at least some- 
times, applied, by way of eminence, to the principal: 
ruler each Synagogue, which principal ruler, appears, 
however, to have been of the same general rank^ or 
order, with the rest, and to have had no other precedence 
than that which consisted in presiding and taking 
the lead in the public service. These officers were, 
further called Heads of the Synagogue ; — Overseers, 
or Bishops; — Presidents ;—Orderers, or Regidators 
of the affairs of the Synagogue; — Guides, &c. (fee. 
These titles are given at length by Vitrmga,'' Selden,\ 
and others, with the original vouchers "and exemjalifica- 
tions of each ; shewing that they all imply hearing rule, 
as well as the enjoyment of pre-eminence and dignity. : 



* De Synagoga Vetere, Lib. iii. Par. i. Gap. 1, 2, 3. 
j De Synedriis — passim. 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



39 



And, as these Elders were distinguished from the 
common members of the Synagogue by appropriate 
indicating official honor and power; so they had 
also distinct and honorable seats assigned them, when 
the congregation over which they ruled was convened. 
The place of sitting usually appropriated to them was a 
semi-circular bench, in the middle of which the chief 
ruler was placed, and his colleagues on each side of 
him, with their faces toward the assembly, and in a 
certain position with respect to the Ark, the principal 
Door, and the cardinal points of the compass. This 
statement is confirmed by the learned Thorndike^ a 
distinguished Episcopal divine, of the 17th, century. 
In speaking of the Consistory, or hejich of Elders, in 
the Synagogue, and describing their manner of sitting 
in public worship, he makes the following statement, in 
the form of a quotation from Maimonides, and confirms 
it abundantly, from other sources. "How sit the people 
in the Synagogue I The Elders sit with theii* faces 
towards the people, and their backs towards the Hecall, 
(the place where they lay the copy of the law ;) and all the 
people sit rank before rank, the face of every rank towards 
the back of the rank before it; so the faces of all the 
people are towards the Sanctuary, and towards the 
Elders, and towards the Ark ; and when the Minister 
of the Synagogue standeth up to prayer, he standeth on 
the ground before the Ark, with his face toward the 
sanctuary, as the rest of the people."* 

The number of the Elders in each Synagogue was 
not governed by any absolute rule. In large cities, 
according to certain Jewish authorities quoted by Vit- 



* Discourse of the Service of God in Religious Assemhjies^ 
Chap. S, p. 56,, 



40 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



ringa, the number was frequently very large. But even 
in the smallest Synagogues, we are assured, as mentioned' 
in a former page, that there were never less than three. 
that the judicatory might never be equally divided. 

Such were the arrangements for maintaining purity 
and order in the Synagogues, or parish churches, of the 
old economy, anterior to the advent of the Messiah. 
It would seem to be impossible for any one to contem- 
plate this statement, so amply supported by all sound 
authority-r-without recognising a striking likeness to the 
arrangements afterwards adopted in the New Testament 
Church. That this likeness is real, and has been 
main^tained by some of the ablest v^riters on the subject, 
the following short extracts will sufficiently establish. 

The first quotation shall be taken from Bishop 
Burnet. " Among the Jews," says he, he wha was 
the chief of the Synagogue was caUed Chazan Hake- 
neseth^ that is, the Bishop of the Congregation^ and 
Sheliach Tsihhor^ the Angel of the Church. And 
the Christian Church being modelled as near the form 
of the Synagogue as could be, as they retained many of 
the rites, so the form of their government was continued, 
and the names remained the same." And again ; "In 
ihe Synagogues there was, first, one that was called the 
Bishop of the Congregation. Next the three Orderers, 
and Judges of every thing about the Synagogue, who 
were called Tsekenim, and by the Greeks, cr^stf^urs^ou 
or ys^ovTsg. These ordered and determined every thing 
that concerned the Synagogue, or the persons in it. 
Next to them, were the three Parnassim, or Deacons, 
whose charge was to gather the collections of the rich, 
and to distribute them to the poor. The term Elder 
was generally given to all their Judges: but chiefly to 
ihose of the great SoMhedriin. So we have it Matt. 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 4l 

16. 21. Mark 8. 31. 14. 43. & 15. 1, and Acts 23. 
14." " A great deal might be said to prove that the 
Apostles, in their first constitutions, took things as they 
liad been modelled to their hand in the Synagogue. 
And this they did, both because it was not their design 
to innovate^ except where> the nature of the Gospel 
dispensation obliged them to do it : — As also, because 
they took all means possible to gain the Jews, who we 
find were zealous adherers to the traditions of their 
fathers, and not easily weaned from those precepts of 
Moses, which by Christ's death were evacuated. And 
if the Apostles went so great a length in complying with 
them in greater matters, as circumcision and other legal 
observances, (which appears from the Acts and Epistles) 
we have good grounds to suppose that they would have 
yielded to them in what was more innocent and less 
important. Besides, there appears, both in our Lord 
himself, and in his Apostles, a gi-eat inchnation to 
symbolize with them as far as was possible. Now the 
nature of the Christian, worship shows evidently, that it 
came in the room of the Synagogue, which was moral, 
and not of the Temple worship, which was typical and 
ceremonial. Likewise this parity of customs betwixt the 
Jews and Christians, was such that it made them taken 
by the Romans, and other more overly observers, for 
one sect of religion. And, finally, any that will impar- 
tially read the New Testament, will find, that when the: 
forms of government or worship are treated of, it is not 
done with such architectonal exactness^ as was necessary, 
if a new thing had been instituted, which we find practised 
by Moses. But the Apostles rather speak as those who 
give rules for the ordering and directing of what was 
already in beingo From all which it seems well grounded 
and rational to assume, that the first ©oiistitution of the 
d2 



42 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



Christian Churches was taken from the 'model of the 
Synag-ogue, in which these Elders were separated, for 
the discharge of their employments, by an imposition of 
hands, as all Jewish writers do clearly witness."* 

The second testimony shall be that of the Rev. Dr. 
Thomas Godwin, an English di\ine of great emdition, 
especially in oriental learning. In his well known work, 
entitled "Moses and Aaron," we find the following 
passage—" There were in Israel distinct Courts, con 
sisting of distinct persons ; the one piincipally for Churcli 
business; the other for affairs in the commonwealth: — 
the one an ecclesiastical Consistory ; the other a 
civil Judicatory. — The secidar Consistory was named 
a Sanhedrim, or Council; the spiritual, a Syna- 
gogue. The office of the ecclesiastical comi was to 
put a difference betw^een things holy and unholy, and 
to determine appeals in controversies of difficulty. It 
was a representative Church. Hence is that, Die 
Ecclesioe; Matt. 18, 16."t 

The next quotation shall be taken from Dr. Light- 
foot, another Episcopal divine, still more distinguished 
for his oriental and rabbinical learning. " The Apostle," 
says he, " calleth the minister Episcopus, (or Bishop.) 
from the common and known title of the Chazan or 
Overseer in the Synagogue." And again ; — "Besides 
these, there was the pubKc minister of the Synagogue, 
who prayed publicly, and took care about reading the 
law, and sometimes preached, if there were not some 
other to discharge this office. This person was called. 
*T1D^^^ fl'^^t^? ^^^6 a7?.^eZ of the Church, and HD^Dil 
J?n the Chazan, or Bishop of the congregation. The 

^ Observations on the First and Second Canons, 4*c. p. 2, 83^ 
S4,B5>. Glasgow. 12mo, 1613. 
I Moses and Aaron. Book 5, chapter i. 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH, 



43 



Ariich gives the reason of the name. The Chazan 
says he, is ll^V n*Sc^ Church, (or 

the pubUc minister) and the Tar gum renders the word 
HNI*! by the word 11? IH, one that oversees. For 
it is incumbent on him to oversee how the reader reads, 
and whom he may call out to read in the law. The 
pubhc Minister of the Synagogue himself read not the 
law publicly; but every Sabbath be called out seven 
of the Synagogue (on other days fewer) who he judged 
fit to read. He stood by him that read, with great care^, 
deserving that he read nothing either falsely or impro- 
perly, and called him back, and correcting him, if he 
had failed in any thiog. And hence he was called 
Chazan, that is EttkTxo^o?, Bishop, or Overseer. Cer- 
tainly the signification of the words Bishop and Angel 
of the Church, hdid been determined with less noise, if 
recourse had been had to the proper fountains, and 
men had not vainly disputed about the signification of 
words taken I know not whence. The service and 
worship of the Temple being abolished, as being cere- 
monial, God transplanted the worship and pubhc 
adoration of God used in the Synagogues, which was 
moral, into the Christian Church; viz- the public 
ministry, public prayers, reading God's Word, and 
preaching, 6cc. Hence the names of the ministers of the 
gospel were the very same, the Angel of the Church, 
and the Bishop, which belonged to the Ministers in 
the Synagogues. " There was in every Synagogue, a 
bench of three. This bench consisted of three Elders, 
rightly and by imposition of hands preferred to the 
Eldership." "There were also three Deacons, or 
Almoners, on whom was the care of the poor.''* 



* Lightfeot's Works, Vol, i. p. 308. Vol. ii. p. 133, 



44 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



In another place, the same learned orientalist, sa5^s — ■ 
describing the worship in the Jewish Synagogue—" In 
the body of the Church the congiegation met, and 
prayed and heard the law, and the manner of their sit- 
ting was this— The Eldeis sat near the Chancel, with 
their faces down the Church: and the people sat one 
form behind another, mth theii- faces up the Church, 
toward the Chancel and the Elders.— Of these Elders 
there were some that had iiile and office in the Syna- 
gogue, and some that had not. And this distinction 
the Apostle seemeth to allude unto, in that much dis- 
puted text, 1 Tim. v. 17. The Elders that rule 
well, &c; where 'the Elders that ruled well,' are set 
not only in opposition to those that ruled ill, but to 
those that ruled 7iot at all— We may see, then, whence 
these titles and epithets in the New Testament are 
taken, namely, from the common platform and consti- 
tution of tho Synagogues, where Angelus Ecclesice, 
and Episcopus were teims of so ordinary use and know- 
ledge. And we may observe from whence the Apostle . 
taketh liis expressions, when he speaketh of some El- 
ders ruhng, and laboring in word and doctrine, and 
some not; namely, from the same platfomi and consti- 
tution of the Synagogue, where ' the Ruler of the Sy- 
nagogue' was more singulariy for ruhng the affairs of 
the Synagogue, and ' the minister of the Congregation,' 
laboring in the word, and reading the law, and in doc- 
trine about the preaching of it. Both these together 
are sometimes called jointly, ' the Rulers of the Syna- 
gogue'; ^c^5 xiii. 15.; Mark v. 22, being both Elders 
that ruled; but the title is more sijigulaily given to the 
first of them."* 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



45 



Again, he says—" In all the Jew's Synagogues there 
were Parnasin, Deacons, or such as had care of the 
poor, whose work it was to gather alms for them from 
the congregation, and to distribute it to them. That 
needful office is here {Acts vi.,) translated into the 
Christian Church.* 

The fourth quotation shall be taken fmm Dr. (after- 
wards Bishop) Stillingfleet, who, in his Irenicum, 
maintains a similar position with confidence and zeal. 
The following is a specimen of his language. " That 
which we lay, then, as a foundation, whereby to clear 
what apostolical practice was, is, that the apostles, in 
forming Churches, did observe the customs of the Jewish 
Synagogue.'t And in support of this position, particu- 
larly in reference to the Eldership of the Synagogue, 
he quotes a lar^e number of the most distinguished 
writers, both Jewish and Christian. It is due to candor, 
indeed, to state, that Stillingfleet does not admit that 
any of the Elders, either of the Synagogue, or of the 
primitive Church, were lay -Elders, but thinks they 
were all invested with some kind of clerical character. 
This, however, as before remarked, does not at all affect 
the value of his testimony to the general fact, that, in 
every Synagogue there was a Consistory, or Judicatory, 
of Elders— and that the same class of officers was 
adopted, both name and thing, in the apostolic Church, 
which he unequivocally asserts and proves. 

In the same general doctrine, Grotius and Sahnasius 
of Holland, decisively concur. By Grotius, the follow- 
ing strong and unqualified language is used. "The 
Vi^hole pohty, or order {regimen) oi the Churches of 



* Ibid. I 279. 

f Irenicum, Part ii. chapter 6,= 



46 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



Christ, was conformed to the model of the Je^vish 
Synagogue;' And again; speaking of ordination by 
the imposition of hands, he says— This method w-^^s 
observed in setting apart the Rulers and Elders of the 
Synagogue ; and thence the custom passed into the 
Christian Chmxh."* Salmasius also, and other writers, 
of equaUy profound learning, mioht be quoted as 
unequivocally deciding, that the Synagogue had a bench 
of Huhng Elders, and that a similar bench, after that 
model, was constituted in the Christian Church. Espe- 
cially, he contends that the Elders of the Church were, 
beyond all doubt, taken from the Eldership in the 
Synagogue.f 

The learned Spencer, a divine of the Church of 
England, in the seventeenth century, teaches the 
same general doctrine, when he says— "The apostles, 
also, that this reformation (the change from the Old ta 
the New Testament dispensation) might proceed gently, 
and without noise, received into the^Christian Church 
many of those institutions which had been long in use 
among the Jews. Among the number of these may 
be reckoned, the imposition of hands; bishops, elders, 
and deacons; excommujiication, ordination, and 
other things famihar to learned men."^ 

The Rev Dr. Adam Clarke-, whose eminent learn- 
ing no competent judge will question, also bears 
testmaony that in every Jewish Synagogue, at the 
time of the coming of Christ, and before, there was 
an ecclesiastical judicatory, or httle Court, whose du^y 
It was to conduct the spiiitual government of each 

* Grotii Annotationes in Act. Aposl. vi. xi. 
f De Primatu Papce. cap. i. 

X DeLegilus HebrcBorum, Lib. iii. Dissert. 1 Cap. 2. sect 4. 



OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



47 



<:ongregation. Among several places in which he makes 
this statement, the Mowing is decisive— In his Com- 
mentary on James ii. 2, he says—" In ancient times 
petty courts of judicature were held in the Synagogues, 
as Vitringa has sufficiently proved, De Vet. Syn. 1. 
3.; and it is probable that the case here adduced was 
one of a judicial kind ; where of the two parties, one 
was rich, and the other poor ; and the master or rviler 
of the Synag02:ue, or he who presided in this court, 
paid particular deference to the rich man, and neglected 
the poor person ; though as plaintif and defendant., 
they were equal in the eye of justice." 

I shall cite on this subject only one more authority ; 
that of the celebrated Augustus Neander, Professor in 
the University of Berlin, and generally considered as, 
perhaps, more profoundly skilled in Christian antiquities, 
than any other man now hving. He is, moreover, a 
Minister of the Lutheran Chuch, and, of course, has 
no sectarian spirit to gratify in vindicating Presbyteri- 
anism. And, what is not unworthy of notice, being 
himself of Jewish extraction, he has enjoyed the highest 
advantages for exploring the peculiar polity of that 
people. After showing at some length, that the govern- 
ment of the primitive Church was not monarchical or 
prelatical, but dictated throughout by a spirit of mutual 
love, counsel, and prayer, he goes on to express himself 
thus : " We may suppose that where any thing could 
])e found in the way of Church forms, which was 
consistent with this spirit, it would be wilhngly appro- 
priated by the Christian community. Now there 
happened to be in the Jewish Synagogue, a system 
of government of this nature ; not monarchical, but 
rather aristocratical (or a government of the most 
venerable and excellent.) A council of Elders, D^^ p t 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 

*|S(f§ur£^o», conducted ail the affairs of that body. It 
seemed most natural that Christianity, developing itself 
from the Jewish religion, should take this fo'rm of 
government. This form mus,t also have appeared 
natural and appropriate to the Roman citizens, since 
their nation had, from the. earliest times, been, to some 
extent, under the control of a Senate, composed of 
Seniors, or Elders, When the Church was placed 
under a council of Elders, they did not always happen 
to be the oldest in reference to i/ears ; but the term 
expressive of age here, was, as in the Latin Senatus, 
and in the Greek ys^ovdia, expressive of worth or merit. 
Besides the common name of these overseers of the 
Church, to wit, ires&^urs^oi, there were many other 
names given, accordingto the peculiar situation occupied 
by the individual, or rather his peculiar field of labor; 
as 'noiixsvss, shepherds ; tj^ou^xsvo* leaders ; '^^osctc^tss tJv 
«(5^X(pwv, rulers of the brethren; and £<rr»ffxo^oj, overseers."* 
Now, if, in the ancient Jewish Synagogue, the 
government of the congregation was not vested, either 
in the people at large, or in any single individual 
but m a bmch of Elders ; if this is acknowledged on ■ 
all hands, as one of the clearest and most indubitable 
facts in Jewish antiquity ;— and if, in the judgment of 
the most learned and pious divines that ever lived, 
both episcopal and non-episcopal, the New Testament 
Church was formed after the model of the Jewish 
Synagogue, and not after the pattern of the Temple 
service ;~we may, of course, expect to find some 
evidence^f this in the history of the apostohc Churches 
How far this expectation is realized, will be seen in the 
.next chapter. 



JCircnengeschichte, Vol i. p. 283, 285. 



CHAPTER III. 



S:VIDENCE IN FAVOR OP THE OFFICE FROM THE 
NEW TESTABIENT SCRIPTURES. 

In this chapter it is proposed to show, that the office 
in question is mentioned in the New Testament, as 
existing in the apostolic Church ; that it was adopted 
from the Synagogue; and that it occupied, in substance, 
the same place in the days of the Apostles, that it now 
occupies in our truly primitive and scriptural Church. 

The first assertion is that this class of officers was 
adopted in the Church of Christ, under its New Testa- 
ment form, after the model of the Synagogue. Some 
have said, indeed, that the Apostles adopted the model 
of the Temple^ and not of the Synagogue service, 
in the organization of the Church. But the slightest 
impartial attention to facts, will be sufficient, it is believed, 
to disprove this assertion. If we compare the titles, the 
powers, the duties, and the ordination of the officers of 
the Christian Church, as well as the nature and order 
of its public service, as estabUshed by the Apostles, with 
the Temple and the Synagogue systems respectively, 
we shall find the organization and service of the Church 
to resemble the Temple in scarcely any thing; while 
they resemble the S3aiagoorue in almost every thing. 
There were Bishops^ Elders^ and Deacons in the 
Synagogue ; but no officers bearing these titles, ox 
performing similar functions in the Temple. There 
was ordination by the imposition of hands ia th^, 

E 



50 



TESTIMONY PROM THE 



Synagogue ; but no such ordination in the Temple 
There were reading the Scriptures, expounding them, 
and public prayers, every iSabbath day in the Syna- 
gogue; while the body of the people went up to the 
Temple only three times a year, and even then to 
attend on a very different service. In the Synagogue, 
there was a system established, which included a 
weekly provision, not only for the instmction and i 
devotions of the people, but also for the maintainance of 
discipline, and the care of the poor; Avhile scarcely 
any thing of this kind was to be found in the Temple. 
Now, in all these respects, and in many more which 
mio-ht be mentioned, the Christian Church followed 
the Synagogue model, and departed from that of the 
Temple. Could we trace a resemblance only in one 
or a feiv points, it might be considered as accidental ; 
but the resemblance is so close, so striking, and extends 
to so many particulars, as to arrest the attention of the 
most careless inquker. It was, indeed, notoriously, so. 
great in the early ages, that the heathen frequently 
suspected Christian Churches of being Jewish Syna- 
gogues in disguise, and stigmatized them as such 
accordingly. 

And when it is considered that all the first converts 
to Christianity were Jews ; that they had been accus- 
tomed to the officers and service of the Synagogue 
during their whole lives ; that they came into the 
Church with all the feelings and habits connected with ; 
their old institutions strongly prevalent ; and that the ! 
organization and service of the Synagogue were of a ! 
moral nature, in all their leading characters, proper to | 
be adopted under any dispensation ; while the typical | 
and ceremonial service of the Temple was then done i 
away ; — when these things are considered, will it not 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



51 



appear perfectly natural that the Apostles, themselves 
native Jews, should be disposed to make as little change 
in converting Synagogues, into Christian Churches, as 
was consistent with the spirituality of the new dispen- 
sation ? That the Synagogue model, therefore, should 
be adopted, would seem, beforehand, to be the most 
probable of all events. Nor is this a new or sectarian 
notion. Whoever looks into the writings of some of the 
early Fathers; of the Reformers; and of a large portion 
of the most learned men who have adorned the Church 
of Christ, subsequently to the Reformation^ wiU find a 
very remarkable concurrence of opinion that such was 
the model really adopted in the organization of the 
apostolic Church. Most of the distinguished writers 
whose names are mentioned in the preceding chapter, 
are, as we have seen, unanimous and zealous in 
maintaining this position. 

Accoi'dingly, as soon as we begin to read of the 
Apostles organizing Churches on the New Testament 
plan, we find them instituting officers of precisely the 
same nature, and bestowing on them, for the most part, 
the very same titles to which they had been accustomed 
in the ordinary sabbatical service under the preceding 
economy. We find Bishops^ Elders, and Deacons 
every where appointed. We find a 'plurality of Elders 
ordained in every Church. And we find the Elders 
represented as " overseers," or inspectors of the Church; 
as " rulers" in the house of God ; and the members of 
the Church exhorted to obey them," and " submit" to 
them, as to persons charged with their spiritual interests, 
and entitled to their affectionate and dutiful reverence. 

The following passages may be considered as a 
specimen of the New Testament representations on thi& 
subject. And when they had ordained them Elders 



52 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



ill every Churchy and had j^v ay ed with fasting ^ they 
commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed : 
Acts 14; 23. And when they were come to Jerusalem, 
ihey were received of the Churchy and of the Apostles 
and Elders. And the Apostles and Elders came 
together to consider of this matter ; Acts 15, 4, 6. 
And from Miletus^ he (Paul) sent to Ephesus^ aiid 
called the Elders of the Church ; and w'hen they 
were come unto him^ he said unto them,, take heed 
unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over ivhich the 
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers : Acts 20, 
20, 28. Is any sick among you 7 Let him call for 
the Elders of the Church, and let them pray over 
him, <^'c.; James 5, 14. The Elders lohich are 
among you I exhort, tvho am also an Elder, and 
a toitness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a 
partaker of the glory that shall he revealed. Feed 
the flock of God that is among you, taking the 
oversight thereof, not hy constraint, hutioilliyigly , 
not for filthy lucre, hut of a ready mind; neither as 
being Lords over God^s heritage, hutbeing ensamples 
to the flock ; 1 Peter v. 1, 2, 3. For this cause left 
I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the 
things that are waMting^ and ordain Elders in 
every city, as I had appointed thee; Titus i. 5* Obey 
them tJiat have the rule over you, and submit 
yourselves, for they watch for your soids as they 
that must give account ; Hebrews 13, 17. And xoe 
beseech you, brethre?i, to knmo them, which labor 
among you, and are over you in the Lord, and 
admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in \ 
love for their work sake; 1 ThessaloniaDs v. 12, 13. 
Let the Elders that ride well be accounted ivorthy 
of double honor, especially they who labor in the 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



53 



word and doctrine; 1 Tim. v. 17. To whatever 
Church our attention is directed, in the inspired history, 
we find in it a plurality of Elders] — we find the 
mass of the Church members spoken of as under their 
authority ; — and while the people are exhorted to 
submit to their rule, with all readiness and affection ; 
these rulers are commanded, in the name of Christ, 
to exercise the power vested in them by the great 
Head of the Church,^ with firmness, and fidehty, and 
yet with disinterestedness and moderation, so as to 
promote most effectually, the purity and order of the 
flock. 

The circumstance of our finding it so uniformly stated^, 
that there was a plurality of Elders ordained in every 
Church, is certainly worthy of particular attention here. 
If there had been a plurality of these officers appointed 
only in some of the more populous cities, where there 
were probably several worshipping assembhes ; where 
the congregations may be supposed to have been unu- 
sually large; and where it was important, of course, to 
have more than a single preacher ; then we might con- 
sider this fact as very well reconcileable with the doc 
trine of those who assert, that all the Elders in the 
apostohc Chui'ch were official teachers. But as hoi\^ 
the direction and the practice were to ordain Elders^ 
that is, more than one, at least, in every Church, small 
as w^ell as great, there is, evidently,, very strong presump- 
tion that it was intended to conform to the Synagogue 
model; and if so, that the wKole of the number so or- 
dained could not be necessary for the purpose of public 
instruction; but that some were rulers, who,^ as in the 
Synagogue, formed a kind of congregational Presbytery^ 
or consistory, for the government of the Church, The 
idea that it was considered as necessary^ at such a time^. 

E a 



54 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



that everj^ Church should have two, three, or four Pad- 
tors^ or Ministers^ in the modern popular sense of those 
terms, is manifestly altogether inadmissible. But if a 
majority of these Elders, whatever their ordination or 
authority might be, were in fact employed, not in teach- 
ing, but in ridings all difficulty vanishes at once. 

Accordingly, the learned Vitrmga, before mentioned," 
whose authority is much relied upon to disprove the ex- 
istence of the office of Ruhng Elder in the pilmitive 
Church, explicitly acknowledges, not only that there; 
was then a plurality of Eldeis in every Church; but 
that, as in the Synagogue, the greater part of these 
were, in fact, employed in ruling only; and that al- 
though all of them were set apart to theii' office in the 
same manner, and were, ecclesiastically, of the same 
rank; yet a majority of them, from want of suitable 
quaUfications, were not fitted to be public preachers, and 
seldom or never attempted this part of the service.* 

But there are distinct passages of Scripture, which 
have been deemed, by some of the most impartial and 
competent' interpreters, very plainly to point out the 
class of Elders now under consideration. 

In Romans xii. 6, 7, 8, the Apostle exhorts as fol- 
jLows : — Having then gifts, differing according to the 
grace given to us; whether prophecy , let us prophesy 
according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry^ 
let us wait on our miiiistering ; or he that 'eacheth 
. mi teaching ; or he that exhorteth on eochoi^tation ; 
he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he 
THAT RULETH, tvith diligence; lie that sheweth 
mercy with cheerfulness. With this passage may be 
connected another, of similar character, and to be inter- 



* ViTRiKGA De Synagoga Vetere. Lib, ii. Cap. ii. 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



55 



preted on the same principles. In 1 Corinthians xii. 
28, we are told, — God hath set some in the Church, 
first Apostles, seco7idarily Prophets, thirdly Teach- 
ers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, 
GOVERNMENTS, diversities of tongues. In both these 
passages there is a reference to the different offices and 
gifts bestowed on the Church by her divine King and 
Head: in both of them there is a plain designation of 
an office for ruling or government, distinct from that 
of teaching: and in both, also, this office evidently has 
a place assigned to it below that of Pastors and Teach- 
ers. Now, this office, by whatever name it may be 
called, or whatever doubts may be started as to some 
minor questions respecting its powers and investiture, 
is substantially the same with that which Presbyte- 
rians distinguish by the title of Ruling Elder. 

Some, indeed, have said that the Apostle in 1 Cor. 
xii. 28, is not speaking of distinct offices, but of different 
duties, devolving on the Church as a body. But no 
one, it is believed, who impartially considers the whole 
passage, can adopt this opinion. In the whole of tlie 
context, from the 12th verse, the Apostle is speaking of 
the Church of God under the emblem of a body, and 
affirms that, in this body, there is a variety of members 
adapted to the comfort and convenience of the whole 
body. For the body, says he, is not one member, but 
many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the 
hand, I am not of the body, is it, therefore, not of the 
body? And if the ear shall say. Because I am not 
the eye, I am not of the body, is it, therefore, not of 
the body? If the whole body were an eye, where 
were the hearing ? If the tvhole were hearing, ivhere 
were the smelling? But now hath God set the 
members every one of them in the body as it hath 



56. 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



pleased him. And if they lo ere all one member, ivhere 
were the body? Plainly iniplyiiig that in every eccle- 
siastical, as well as in every natm'al body, there are dif- 
ferent functions and offices: that all cannot be teachers: 
that all caimot be governors, or governments] but 
that to each and every functionary is assigned his pro- 
per work and duty. 

Nor is this interpretation of the Apostle confined to 
Presbyterians. Peter Martyr, the learned ItaUan re- 
former, inteiprets the passage before us just as we have ' 
done. In his Commentary on 1 Cor. xii. 28, bespeaks thus :. 

Governments. Those who were honored with this 
function, are such as were fitted for the work of govern- 
ment, and who know how to conduct every thing re- 
lating to discipline righteously and pmdently. For the 
Church of Christ had its govermnent. And because a 
single pastor was ncH; able to accompUsh every thing 
himself, there were joined with him, in the ancient 
Church, certain Elders, chosen fi'om among the people... 
well-informed, and skilled in spiritual things, who, 
formed a kind of parochial Senate. These, vnxh the 
pastor, dehberated on every matter relating to the care 
and edification of the Church. Which thing Ambrose 
makes mention of in writing on the Epistle io Timothy,, 
' Among these Elders the Pastor took the lead, not as ?l. 
tyi'ant, but rather as a Consul presiding in a council of 
Senator s^ Many Episcopahans and others find in.« 
the passage the same sense. The Reverend Her 
bert Thorndike, before quoted, a learned divine of the 
Church of England, v\rho lived in the reign of Charles^ 
I. speaks thus of the passage last cited. " There is no 
reason to doubt, that the men whom the Apostle^ 
1 Cor. 12, 28, .and Ephes. 4, 11, calleth Doctors, on 
Teachers, are those of the Presbyters, who had the. 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



57- 



abilities of preaching and teaching the people at their 
assemblies. That those of the Presbyters who preached 
not, are called here by the Apostle, governments ; and 
the Deacons, avriX-ON^sij, that is, helps, or assistants to 
the Govermnent of Presbyters ; so that it is not to be 
translated in governments, but helps, govern- 
ments, &c. There were two parts of the Presbyter's 
office, viz., teaching und governing, the one whereof 
so??ie attained not, even in the Apostle's times."*^ 

But there is a still more pointed reference to this class 
of Elders in 1 Timothy v. 17. Let the Elders that 
ride well be counted loorthy of double honor, especially 
they ivho labor in the iDord and doctrine. It would 
seem that every person of plain common sense, who 
had never heard of any diversity of opinion on the sub- 
ject, would, without hesitation, conclude, on reading 
this passage, that, at the period in which it was written, 
there were two kinds of Elders, one whose duty it was 
to labor hi the loord and doctrine, dcndi another who 
did not thus labor, but only i^ided in the Church. The 
Apostle declares that Elders ivho rule ivell are iDorthy 
of double honor, but especially those who labor in 
the tvord and doctine. Now, if we suppose that there 
was only one class of Elders then in the Church, and 
that they were all. teachers, or laborers in the ivord 
and doctrine, we make the inspired Apostle speak in a 
manner utterly unworthy of his high character. There 
was, therefore, a class of Elders in the apostolic Churchy 
who did not, in fact, or, at any rate, ordinarily, preach, 
or administer sacraments, but assisted in government; — 
in other words. Ruling Elders. 

For this construction of the passage, Dr. Whitaker, 



* Discourse of Religious Assemblies. Chap. iv. p. IHa 



58 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



a zealous and learned Episcopal divine, and Regius 
Professor of Divinity in the University of Camhridget 
of whom Bishop Hall remarks, that "no man ever 
saw him without reverence, or heard him without 
wonder'' — very warmly contends — " By these w^ords," 
says he, " the Apostle evidently distinguishes between 
the Bishops and the Inspectors of the Chmch. If aU 
who rule well be worthy of double honor, especially 
they who labor in the word and doctrine, it is plain that 
there were some who did not so labor ; for if all had 
been of this description, the meaning would have been 
absmd ^ but the word especially points out a difference. 
If I should say, that all. who study wen at the University 
are worthy of doitble honor, especially they who labor 
in the study of theology, T must either mean, that alt 
do not apply themselves to the study of Theology^ or 
I should speak nonsense. Wherefore I confess that to 
be the most genuine sense by which Pastors and Teach- 
ers are distinguished from those who only governed ; 
Romans^ xii. 8. Of this class of Elders Ambrose speaks 
in his commentary on 1 Timothy 5. 1."* 

The learned and venerable Dr. Owen^ gives his 
opinion of the import of this passage, in still more pointed 
language. " This is a text," says he, " of incontrollable 
evidence, if it had any thing to conflict withal but pre- 
judice and interest. A rational man, who is unprejudiced: 
who never heard of the controversy about RuUng Elders, 
can hardly avoid an apprehension that there are two 
sorts of Elders, some who labor in the word and doctrine^ 
and some who do not so do. The truth is, it was interest 
and prejudice which fii'st caused some learned men to- 



* PrcBhctiones, as quoted in Calderwood's Sltare Da- 
•^ascenum, p. 681c 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



59 



strain their wits to find out evasions from the evidence 
of this testimony. Being found out, some others, of 
meaner abilities, have been entangled by them. — There 
are Elders, then, in the Church, There are, or ought 
to be so in every Church. With these Elders the whole 
rule of the Church is intrusted. All these, and only 
they, do rule in it."* 

Equally to our purpose is the judgment of that acute 
and learned Episcopal divine, Dr. Whithy, in his Com- 
mentary on this passage. " The Elders of the Jews," 
says he, "were of two sorts ; 1st, such governed in 
the Synagogue, and 2dly, such as ministered in read- 
ing and expounding theii* scriptures and traditions, 
and from them, pronouncing what did bind or loose, 
or what was forbidden, and what was lawful to be done. 
For when, partly by theii- captivity, and partly through 
increase of traffic, they were dispersed in considerable 
bodies through divers regions of the world, it was 
necessary that they should have governors or magis- 
trates to keep them in their duty, and judge of criminal 
causes ; and also Rabbins, to teach them the law, and 
the traditions of their fathers. The/r.9^ were ordained 
ad judicandiim, sed non ad docendum de licitis et 
vetitis, i. e. to judge and govern, but not to teach. 
The second, ad docendum, sed non ad judicandum, 
i. e. to teach, but not to judge or govern." " And these 
the Apostle here declares to be the most honorable, and 
worthy of the chiefest reward. Accordingly^ the Apostle, 
reckoning up the officers God had appointed in the 
Church, places teachers before governments; 1 Cor. 
xii. 28." 

I am aware that a number of glosses have been 

* True Mure of a Gospel Church, Chapter vii. p. Hl^ 
142, 143. 



60 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



adopted to set aside the testimony of this cogent text 
in favor of Ruhng Elders. To enumerate and show 
the invahdity of them all, would be inconsistent with 
the limits to which this manual is restricted. But a 
few of the most plausible and popular may be deemed 
worthy of notice. 

Some, for example, have said, that, by the Elders 
that rule well in this passage, civil magistrates are 
intended ; while, by those who labor in the word and 
doctriney ministers of the gospel are pointed out. But 
it will occur to every reflecting reader that, at the time 
when the passage of scripture under consideration was 
addressed to Timothy ^ and for several centuries after- 
wards, there were no Christian Magistrates in the 
Church ; and to suppose that the Church is exhorted 
to choose heathen judges or magistrates, to compose 
differences, and maintain order among the followers of 
Christ, is in the highest degree improbable, not to sa} 
altogether absurd. 

Others have alleged, that by the Elders that rult 
ivell are meant Deacofis. It is enough to reply to this 
suggestion, that it has never been shown, or can be 
shown, that Deacons are any where in the New Tes- 
tament distinguished by the title of Elders ; and, 
further, that the function of ruling is no where repre- 
sented as belonging to their office. They were appoint- 
ed Ajaxovsjv T^aTTs^aj^, to serve tables ; Acts vi. 2, 3 ; — 
but not to act as rulers in the house of God. — Of this,, 
however, more in a subsequent chapter. 
" A third class of objectors contend, that the word 
i^aXj^Trt, which our translators have rendered especially, 
ought to be translated much. That it is not to be 
Considered as distinguishing one class of Elders froui 
another; but as marking intensity of degree; in 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 61 

^ Other words, that it is meant to be exegetical of those 
who rule well^ viz. : thcfse who labor much, or with 
peculiar diligence, in the word and doctrine. On this 
plan, the verse in question would read thus : — Let the 
Elders who rule well, that is loho labor much in the 
word and doctrine, be accounted worthy of double 
honor. If this were adopted as the meaning of the 
passage, it would go to show, that it is for jyr caching 
alone, and not for ruling well, that Elders are entitled 
to honor. But is it rational or consistent with other 
parts of Scripture, to suppose that no honor is due to the 
latter % It has also been contended, by excellent Greek 
critics, that the structure of the sentence will not, 
naturally, bear this interpretation. It is not said, h 
jiaXigra zottjwvts^, as would have been the proper order 
of the words, if such^ had been the meaning intended 
to be conveyed ; but p.akisTa k xo'iriuvrss : — not those who 
labor with especial diligence and exertion ; but especially 
those who labor, ifec. But the most decisive con- 
sideration is, that not a single case- can be found, 
in the New Testament, in which the word {xoCkisra 
has the signification here attributed to it. It is so 
generally used to distinguish one class of objects 
from another, that we may safely venture to say, it 
cannot possibly have a different meaning in the passage 
before us. A few decisive examples wiQ be sufficient. 
In the sam€ chapter, from which the passage under 
consideration is taken, (1 Tim. v. 8,) it is said : If any 
man provide not for his ovm, and especially (iiakisrcx,) 
for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith ^ 
4*c. Again ; Gal. iv. 10 : — Let us do good unto all 
men, hut especially (fxaXi^Ta) unto them who are of 
household of faith. Again; Philip. 4, 22: — All the 
mints salute you, chiefly [ixakiSTo.) they of Ccesafs 



62 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



household. — Thus, also, 2 Tim. iv. 13: — When thou ■ 
comest, bring with thee the hooks ^ hut especially 
[^aXma) the parchments. Further; 1 Tim. iv. 10: 
Who is the Saviour of all men^ especially (fxaXi^Ta) 
of those ivho believe. Again; Titus i. 10: — For there 
are many unruly and vain talkers^ especially 
(liukisTo) they of the circumcision. Now, in all these 
cases, there are two classes of objects intended to be 
distinguished from each other. Some of the saints 
were of Ccesar^s household, and others were not. Good 
was to be done to all men ; but all were not believers. 
There were many vain aad unruly talkers alluded 
to, but they were not all of the circumcision: and so 
of the rest. 

A fourth class of objectors to our construction of this 
passage, are certain prelatists, who allege, that by the 
Elders that ride well^ the Apostle intends to designate 
superannuated Bishops^ who though too old to labor 
in the word and doctrine^ were still able to assist in 
ruling. To this it is sufficient to reply, that, whether 
we understand the " honor" (Tsfjioi^) to which the Apos- 
tle refers, as intended to designate pecuniary support^ 
or rank and dignity ^ it would seem contrary to every 
principle, both of reason and Scripture, that younger 
and more vigorous laborers in the ivord and doctrine, 
should have a portion of this honor awarded to them 
superior to that which is yielded to those who have 
become worn out in the same kind of sevice. These 
aged, venerable, and exhausted dignitaries, according 
to this construction, are to be, indeed, much honored, 
but less than their junior brethren, whose strength for 
labor still continues. 

A further objection made to our construction of this 
passage is, that when the Apostle speaks of double 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 63 

honor {diit'k^os TijX'yjs) as due to those who 7^ule well, he 
refers, not to respect and regard, but to temporal 
support.* Now, say this class of objectors, as Presby- 
terians never give salaries to their Ruhng Elders, they 
cannot be the kind of officers contemplated by the 
sacred writer in this place. But is it certain that by the 
original term here translated "honor," salary, or 
maintenance, is really intended ? Why not assign to 
the word 'rtiixn its more common signification, viz.: 
honor, high respect, reverence ? It is common to say, 
that the illustrations contained in the 18th verse. — 
Thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the 
corn; and the laborer is worthy of his reward, 
seem to fix the meaning to temporal support. But 
those illustrations only carry with them the general 
idea of reward; and surely a reward may be of the 
moral as well as of the pecuniary kind. But supposing 
the inspired Apostle really to mean double, that is 
liberal maintenance, still this interpretation does not at 
all militate against our doctrine. It might have been 
very proper, in the days of Paul, to give all .the Elders 

* It is wortby of notice that Calvin, in his Commentary on 
this place, gives the following- view of the Apostle's meaning 
when he speaks of double honor. "When Ckrysostom inter- 
prets the phrase double honor, as importing support and reverence. 
1 do not impugn his opinion. Let those adopt it who think 
proper. But to me it appears more probable that a comparisoa 
is here intended between Widows &nd Elders. Paul had just 
before commanded to have Widows in honor But Elders are 
still more worthy of honor than they. Wherefore to these double 
honor is to be given." This interpretation is natural, and con- 
sistent. " Honor Widows, says the Apostle, that are widows 
indeed ;'' but " let the Elders that rule luell be counted worthy of 
double honor, especially those that labor in the word and doc- 
^neJ" T^hesacae word is used to express honor, in both qases. 



64 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



a decent temporal support, as a reward for their services. 
But if any Elder chose to decline receiving a regular 
stipend, as Paul himself seems to have done, he surely 
did not, by this disinterestedness, forfeit his office. It 
may be that Ruhng Elders ought now to receive a 
compensation for their ser\qces, especially when they 
devote to the Church a larp part of their time and 
talents. But if any are willmg to render their services 
gratuitouslyj whether they be ruling or preaching 
Elders, every one sees that this cannot destroy, or even 
impair their official standing. 

Accordingly, it will be seen in the sequel, that there 
is. a concuiTence of sentiment, in favor of our construe-- 
tion of this celebrated passage in Timothy, among the 
most distinguished divines of all denominations. Protest 
tant and Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed, truly re- 
markable, and affording a very strong presumptive ar- 
gument in favor of its correctness. 

There is another class of passages, already quoted in 
a fomrier part of this chapter, which is entitled to more 
formal consideration. I mean such as that found 
in 1 Thessalonians v. 12, 13. " And we beseech you, 
brethren, to know them which labor among you, and 
are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to 
esteem them very higlily in love for their works sake.'' 
Such also as that found in Hehrews xiii. 17. " Obey 
them that have the mle over you, and submit yourselves : 
for they watch for your souls as they that must give 
account, &c." Here the inspiied witer is evidently 
speaking of particular Churches. He represents them 
as each having a body of Rulers " set over them in the 
Lord," who '-watch over them," and whom they are 
bound to "obey." In short, w^e find a set of officers 
spoken of, whq are not merely to instruct, and exhort. 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 



65 



but to exercise official authority/ in the Church. Now 
this representation can be made to agree with no other 
form of government than that of the Presbyterian 
Church. Not with Prelacy; for that presents no ruler 
in any single Church but the Rector only. It knows 
nothing of a Parochial Council, or Senate, w^ho conduct 
discipline, and perform ail the duties of spiritual rule. 
Not with Independency ; for according to the essential 
principles of that system, the body of the communicants, 
are all equally rulers, and even the Pastor is only the 
chairman, or president, not properly the Ruler of the 
Church. But with the Presbyterian form of Church 
government, in which every congregation is furnished 
with a bench of spiritual Rulers, whom the people are 
bound to reverence and obey, it agrees perfectlyo 

There is only one passage more which will be ad- 
duced in support of the class of Elders before us. This 
is found in Matthew xvm. 15, 16, 17. Here it is be- 
lieved that the 17th verse, which enjoins — Tell it to 
the Church — has evidently a reference to the plan of 
discipline know^n to have been pursued in the Jewish 
Synagogue ; and that the meaning is, " Tell it to that 
Consistory or Judicatory^ which is the Church acting 
by its representatives." It is true, indeed^ that some 
Independents, of more zeal than caution, have confi- 
dently quoted this passage as making decisively in favor 
of their scheme of popular government. But when, 
carefully examined, it will be found not only by no 
means to answer their purpose; but rather to support 
the Presbyterian cause . We must always interpret 
language agreeably to the well known understanding 
and habit of the tiine and the country in which it is de- 
livered. Now, it is perfectly certain that the phrase — 
'• Tell it to the Church' —was constantly in use among. 



66 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



the Jews to express the caiTying a complaint to the- 
Eldership or representatives of the Church. And it 
is quite as certain, that actual cases occur in the Old 
Testament in which the term Church (sxxX^jCja) is ap- 
phed to the body of Elders, See as an example of this, 
Deuteronomy ^yil 28, 30, comparing our translation 
with that of the Seventy, as alluded to in a preceding 
chapter. We can scarcely avoid the conclusion, then, 
that om- blessed Lord meant to teach his disciples, that, 
as it had been in the Jewish Synagogue, so it would 
be in the Christian Church,.that the sacred community 
should be governed by a bench of Rulers regularly 
chosen and set apart for this purpose. 

In support of this construction of the passage before 
us, we have the concurring judgment of a large ma- 
jority of Protestant divines, of all denominations. — We 
have not only the opinion of Calvin^ Beza, Parceus, 
and a great numbei- of distinguished writers on the 
continent of Europe; hut ^Iso of Lightfoot, Goodwill, 
and many others, both ministers of the Church of 
England, and Independents of that country. It is 
worthy of remark^ tpoj that Chrysostom, known to be 
an eminently learned and accomplished Father, of the 
fourth century, evidently undei'stands this passage in 
the Gospel according to St. Matthew, ji^ substantially 
agreeing with the views of Presbyterians ; or, at any 
rate, as totally rejecting the Independent doctrine. Zan- 
chius, (in Gluart Proecept.) and Junius {Controv. hi 
Lib. ii. Cap. vi.) quote him as asserting, in liis Com. 
mentary on this place, that by the Church to which 
the offence was to be told, we are to understand the 
^psS^oi xptj cr^osffTWTSs of the Church. 

It may not be improper, before taking leave of ths 
Scriptural testimony in favor of Ruling Elders, to 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 67 

take some notice of an objection which has been adr 
vanced with much confidence, bat which, manifestly^ 
when examined, will be fouad destitute of the smallest 
force. It has been said that gi'eat reliance is placed on 
the word 'jf^osdruiTS^^ found in Timothy V. 17, as ex- 
pressive of the ruling character of the office under coHr 
sideration ; whereas, say these objectors, this very word, 
as is universally known and acknowledged, is applied by 
sever al of the early Fathers to Teaching Elders, to those 
who evidently bore the office of Pastors of Churches, 
and who were, of course, not mere rulers, but also 
laborers in the word and doctrine^ If, therefore this 
title be applied to those who were confessedly teachers, 
what evidence have we that it is intended, in any case, 
to designate a different class? This objection is founded 
on a total misapprehension of the argument which it is 
supposed to refute. T'he advocates of the office of Ruling 
Elder do not contend or believe that the function of 
ruling is confined to this class of officers. On the con- 
trary, they suppose ajid teach that one class of Elders 
BOTH rule and teach, while the other class rule only. 
Both, according to the doctrine of the Presbyterian 
Church, are -TrposrfTWTSj ; but one only " labor in the 
word and doctrine." When, therefore, cases are found 
in the early records of the Church in which the presiding 
Elder, or Pastor, is styled -n-postfTw^, the fact is in perfect 
harmony with the usual argument from 1 Tim. v. 17; 
the import of which we maintain to be this: — Let all 
the Elders that ride luell, he counted worthy of double 
honor, especially those of their number who, besides^ 
Tiding, besides acting as -TrpostfTwrsff, m common with 
the others, also labor in the word and doctrine. 

It has also been contended that the whole doctrine o^ 
t)ie Ruling, as distinct from the Teaching Elder, tend*^ 



68 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



to weaken, if not wholly to destroy, the Presbyterian 
argnment in favor of jjarity in the Gospel ministry, 
drawn from the fact, that both Sciipture and early Chris 
tian antiquity repr^ent Bishop and Presbyter as con- 
vertible titles for the same office. Presbyterians maintain, 
and I have no doubt, with perfect truth, that, in the 
language of the New Testament, a Bishop means the 
Pastor, or Overseer of a single Chui'ch or parish; that 
Bishap and Presbyter are not titles which imply dif- 
ferent grades of office; but that a Presbyter or Elder 
who has a pastoral charge, who is the overseer of a 
flock, is a Scriptural Bishop, and holds the highest office 
that Christ has instituted in his Church. Now, it has 
been alleged by the opponents of Ruling Elders, that 
to represent the Scriptures as holding forth two classes 
of Elders, one cla^s as both teaching and ruling, and 
the other as ruling only— and, consequently, the latter 
as holding a station not exactly identical with the 
former ;— amounts to a virtual suiTender of the argu-^ 
ment derived from the identity of Bishop and Pres- 
byter. 

This ol^ection, however, is totally groundless. If 
we suppose Elder, as used in Scripture, to be a generic 
term, comprehending all who bore mle in the Church ; 
and if we consider the term Bishop, as also a generic 
term, mcluding all v/ho sustained the relation of official 
inspectors ox overseers of a flock ;— then it is plain 
that all Bishops were Scriptural Elders; and that all 
Eldefi's, whether both teachers and rulers, or rulers 
only, provided they were placed over a parish, as 
inspectors or overseers, were Scriptural Bishops, 
Now this, I have no doubt, was the fact. When 
therefore, the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church 
^t Philippi, addresses the Bishops and Deacons; and ; 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 69^ 

when in his conference with the Elders of the Church of 
Bphesus, at Miletus, he speaks oi them all equally as 
OverseerSjOr, as it is in the original, Bishops (E'sntJxo'rrovg) 
of that Church, I take for granted he included the rulers 
as well as the teachers, in both instances. In a word, I 
suppose that, in every truly primitive and apostolic 
Church, there was a bench of Elders, or Overseers, 
who presided over all the spiritual interests of the 
congregation; that, generally, a small part only of these, 
and perhaps seldom more than one, statedly preached : 
that the rest, through probably ordained in the same 
manner with their colleagues, very rarely, if ever, 
taught publicly, but were employed as i7ispectors and 
rulers, and it may be, also, in visiting, catechizing, 
and instructing from house to house. If this were the 
pase — and every part of the New Testament history 
favors the supposition ;— then nothing can be more 
natural than the language of the inspired writers in 
reference to this whole subject. Then we readily 
understand why the Apostle should say to Titus : — 
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest 
set in order the things that are vmnting, and ordain 
Elders m everi/ city, as I had appointed thee. If' 
any be blameless, <^*c; for a Bishop must be blame- 
less, as the steward of God, ^c. We may then 
perceive, why he speaks of a number of Bishops at 
Philippi, and a number also at Ephesus ; and, in the 
same breath, calls the latter alternately Bishops and 
Elders; — and, on this principle, we may see, no less^ 
plainly why the Apostle Pe^er said : — The Elders 
ivhivh are among you I exhort, ivho am also an 
Elder, and a witness of the sufferings of the Christ, 
and also a partaker of the glory that shall he re- 
vealed. Feed the flock of God thai is among you. 



70 



TESTIMONY FROM THE 



taking the oversight thereof, (s^rjtfxoTouvTs?)— acting- as 
Bishops among them— /lo^ hy constraint, hut willing' 
ly; not for filthy lucre, hut of a ready mind; neither 
as being Lords over God's heritage, hut heing 
ensamples to the flock. And accordingly, it is remarka- 
ble that the woM iroifxavaTS, used in the second verse of 
the last quotation, is derived from a word signifying a 
shepherd, and carries with it the ideas of gidding. 
•protecting, a?id riding, as weU as feeding in appro 
priate spiritual pastures. See Matthew ii. 6, and Reve- 
lation ii. 27. 

This view of the subject takes away all embarrass- 
ment and difficulty in reference to the titles given to 
the primitive officers of the Church. There is abun- 
dant evidence that every class of Elders, as well those 
who commonly officiated as rulers only, as those who 
both ruled and taught, bore the name of Bishops, In- 
spectors, Overseers, during the apostolic age, and 
for some time afterwards. I^his was a name most 
significantly expressive of their appropriate function. 
v;rhich was to overlook, direct and ride each particular 
Church, for its edification. How long this title continued 
to be applied to all the Elders, indiscrhninately, it is 
liot easy to say. It was probably in the Church, as it 
Vvas known to have been in the Synagogue. All the 
rulers of the Synagogue were popularly called Archi- 
synagogi, as is evident from several passages in the 
Nev/ Testament; but sometimes, as we learn from the 
same source, this title was applied, byway of eminence. 
to the presiding, or principal Ruler of each Synagogue. 
So \\rith regard to the title of Inspector, Overseer, oy 
Bishop, we know that all the Elders of Ephesus, 
(Acts XX. 17, 28,) were indiscriminately called Bishops 
by the inspired Paul We know too that the same 



NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. 7j 

Apostle recognizes a plurality of Bishops^ or Overseers^ 
in the Church at Philippi, — (chapter i. 1.;) who 
<Jould not possibly have been Prelates, as EpiscopaHans. 
themselves allow. We find, moreover, the same "chief- 
est of the Apostles," giving the titles of Bishop and 
Elder, without discrimination, to all the Church Rulers 
directed to be ordained in Ephesus and Crete^ as the 
Epistles to Timothy and Titus plainly evince. In 
those pure and simple times no difficulty arose from this 
general apphcation of a plain and expressive title. For 
more than a hundred years after the apostohc age, 
ihis title continued to be frequently apphed in the same 
manner, as the writings of Clemens Romanus^ Her- 
mas^ IrencBus^ and others, amply testify. We find them 
not only speaking of the Elders as bearing rule in 
each Church; but also calling the same men, alternately. 
Bishops, and Elders, as was evidently done in apos- 
tolic times. In process of time, however, this title, which 
was originally considered as expressive of duty and 
labor, rather than of honor, became gradually appro- 
priated to the principal Elder, who usually presided in 
preaching and ordering the course of the public service. 
Not only so, but, as a worldly and ambitious spiiit 
gained ground, he who bore this title began to advance 
certain peculiar claims ; — first those of a stated Chair- 
man, President, or moderator ;— and finally those of a 
new order, or grade of office. That there was an en» 
tire change in the application of the title of Bishop not 
long after the apostolic age, a majority of our Episco- 
pal bretheren themselves allow. They grant that 
in the New Testament this title is given indiscrimi- 
nately to all who were intrusted with the instraction 
and care of the Church. But that, in the succeeding 
period, it was graduaUy reserved to the highest order. 



72 



TESTIMONY PROM THE 



In Other words, they grant that the title Bishop had a 
veiy different meaning in the seco?id and third centu- 
f iesj from that which it had borne in the Jirst. Now, 
even conceding to them that this change took plac6 
earlier than the best records give us reason to beheve ; 
it may be asked — why make such a change at all? 
Why not continue to get along with the language 
which the inspired Apostles had authorised by their use? 
Why insidiously make an old title, which was familiar 
to the popular ear, signify something very different from 
what it had been wont to signify from the beginning ; 
and thus palm a new office with an old name on the 
people? Were there no other fact established by the 
early writers than this, it would be quite sufficient to 
convince us that the apostohc government of the Churcli 
was early coiTupted by human ambition 



CHAPTER IV. 



^^ESTIMONY OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS, 

That which is not found in the Bible, however full} 
and strongly it may be enjomed elsewhere, cannot be 
considered as binding on the Church. On the other 
hand, what is plainly found in the word of God, though 
it be no where else taught, we are bound to receive. 
Accordingly, if we find Ruhng Elders in the New 
Testament, as it is firmly believed we have done — il, 
matters not, as to their substantial warrant, how soon 
after the apostolic age, they fell into disuse. Still if we 
can discover traces of them in the early uninspired 
writings of the Christian Church, it will certainly add 
something to the chain of proof which we possess in 
theii" favor. It will add strong presumption to that 
which is our decisive rule. Let us, then, see whether 
the early Fathers say any thing which can be fairly 
considered as alluding to this class of Chiu'ch officers. 

But before we proceed to examine these witnesses in 
detail, it may not be improper to make two genera] 
remarks, which ought to be kept steadily in view 
through the whole of this branch of our subject. 

The^r^^ is, — that we must be on oui- guard against 
the ambiguous use of the title, Elder, as it is expressed in 
different languages. When we look into the writings 
of the Christian Fathers who lived during the first two 

G 



74 



TESTIMONY OF 



hundred years after Christ, all of whom, if we except 
Tertullian, wrote in Greek, we find them generally 
using the word 'jr^sffguTS^og to designate an Elder. Now 
this is precisely the same word which the advocates of 
Prelacy apply to the "second order," as they express 
it, of their "clergy," always called by them "Presbyters." 
And when Presbyterians translate this word by the term 
Elde?^* and consider it as used, at least in many cases, 
to designate that class of officers which forms the si^ject 
of this Essa}^, they are considered and represented, by 
some illiterate and narrow minded persons, as chargeable 
with an unfair, if not a deceptive use of a term. This 
charge is manifestly unjust. It ^^t11 never be repeated 
by any candid individual, who is acquainted with the 
Greek language. This is the very word which is almost 
invariably used by the translators of the Septuagint, all 
thi'ough the Old Testament, to designate Elders who, 
confessedly had nothing to do with preaching. In truth, 
it was a general title of office among the Jews, and it was 
a general title of office among;" the early Christians, as 
any one will immediately perceive by a candid perusal 
of the New Testament. And the fact is, that if 
Presbyterians mote in Greek, they would of course, 
employ this very term to express their Ruling Elder. 
The word "Eider" is the natural, literal, and, we may 
almost say, the only proper term by which to express 
the meaning of the Greek title, "jr^sffburs^oj. And even 
when we meet in some of the early Fathers with 
passages in which the officers of the Church are 



* It is worthy of notice that whenever the word TT^srCyr^e; 
occurs iQ the New Testament, our translation, when an 
ecclesiastical officer is meant, always renders it Elder. So far 
as is recollected, this is invariably done. 



THE FATHERS. 



75 



enumerated as consisting of E-n-^tf^o-tfoi, *^stfguT5go«, xa. 
A.axovo., it may be said, with perfect truth, that if 
Presbyterians, at the present day, were called upon to 
enumerate the standing officers in all their Churches, 
which are completely organized agreeably to then' 
pubUc standards— they would, beyond all doubt, if they 
used the Greek language, represent theii" regular eccle- 
siastical officers as every where consisting of E-f.tfxo^o., 
^^£tf§uTS^o., xa« Ajaxovoi; meaning by s-Tr.frxoTroj a parochial 
Pastor or Overseer, in which sense Prelatists themselves 
acknowledge the title to have been generally used in the 
apostolic age ; and meaning by the title ^^stf^uTS^og, a 
Ruling Elder, which we have no doubt has been shown, 
and will be yet further shown to be, in many cases, 
the proper interpretation of the word. When, there- 
fore, we thus translate the word m some of the tol-^ 
lowing quotations, let no one feel as if we were taking 
an unwarrantable Hberty. No imputation of this kind, 
assuredly, will be made by any reader of competent 
learning to judge in the case, 

The second prehminary remark is, that, perhaps, no 
class of Church officers would be, on the whole, so 
likely to fall into disrepute after the apostohc age, and 
be discontinued, as that which is now under considera- 
tion. We know that the purity of the Church began 
to decline immediately after the apostolic age. Nay, 
while the Apostles were still alive, " the mystery of 
iniquity" had aheady begun "to work." Corruption, 
both in faith and practice, had crept m, and, in some 
places, to an alarming and most distressing extent. 
And, after theii" departure, it soon " came in like a 
flood." The discipline of the Church became relaxed, 
and, after a while, in a great measure prostrated. The 
hints dropped by several writers in the second century. 



TESTIMONY OF 

and the strongly colored and revolting pictures given 
by Origen and Cyprian, of the state of the Church 
m their own times, present a view of this subject which 
needs no comment. Now, in such a state of things 
was It not natural that the office of those whose pecuhar 
duty It was to inspect the members of the Church • to 
take cognizance of all their aberrations ; and to mlin- 
tam a pure and Scriptural disciphne, should be unpopu- 
lar, and finaUy as much as possible crowded out of 
public view, discredited, and gi-aduaUv laid aside. 

But this is not aU. Shortly after the apostohc age, 
several ecclesiastical officers, as is confessed on all hands 
were either invented or modified, so as to suit the de' 
clmmg spuituahty of the times. To mention but a 
smgle example. The Deacons began to claim higher 
dignity and powers. Siih-Deaco7is were introduced to 
perform some of those functions which had originaUy 
belonged to Deacons, but which they had become too 
proud to perform. Was it either unnatural, then, or 
improbable-since things of a similar kind actually took 
place— that in the comse of the undeniable degeneracy 
^^diich was now reigning, the Ruling Elders of the 
Church should find the employment to which they had 
been ongmaUy destined, irksome both to themselves and 
others; by no means adapted to gratify either the love 
of gam, or the love of pleasure which seemed to be the 
order of the day;— and that both parties graduaUy 
imited m dropping the inspection and discipline once 
committed to their hands, and in turning their attention 
to objects more adapted to the taste of ambitious, worldly 
minded Church-men. And this result would be, at once, 
more hkely to occur, and might have occurred with less 
opposition and noise, if we suppose, as some learned men 
have done, that Ridmg and Teaching Elders, from 



THE FATHERS. 



77 



the beginning, not only both bore the general name of 
Elders, but were both set apart to theii- office with the 
same formalities. If this were the case, then there was 
nothing to change, in virtually discarding the office of 
Ruling Elder, but gradually to neglect all their appro- 
priate duties, and in an equally gradual manner to shde 
into the assumption of duties, and especially that of 
public preaching, which, in the primitive Church, they 
had not been expected to perform. 

Keeping these things in mind, let us examine whe- 
ther some, both of the early and the late Fathers, do not 
express themselves m a manner which renders it pro- 
bable, or rather certain, that they had in view the class 
of Elders of which we are speaking. 

In the Epistle of Clemens jRo?nanus, who lived to- 
ward the close of the first centmy, to the Church at 
Corinth, we find the worthy father remonstrating with 
the members of that Chui'ch for having risen up against 
their Elders, and thrust them out of office — pei haps for 
the very reason just hinted at — that they found their 
inspection and rule uncomfortable. — Accordingly Cle- 
mens addresses the Corinthian Christians in the follow- 
ing manner: "It is a shame, my beloved, yea, a very 
great shame, to hear that the most firm and ancient 
Church of the Corinthians should be led, by one or two 
persons, to rise up against their Elders.''' — {ir^sa^wrs^ov^.) 
Again; "Let the flock of Christ enjoy peace with the 
Elders (cr^stfSuTS^wv) that are set over it." Again ; "Do 
ye, therefore, who firsi laid the foundation of this sedi- 
tion, submit yourselves to your Elders, and be instmcted 
into repentance, bending the knee of your hearts/' 
Epist. 47. 54. 57. 

In these extracts we find an entire coincidence with 
ihe language of the New Testament'^ a plain indication 
g2 



78 



TESTIMONY OF 



that in every Church there was 3. plurality of Elders: 
and a distinct recognition of the idea that these Elders 
were rulers, in other words, held a station of authoritij 
and government over "the flock" of wliich they were 
officers. 

In the Epistles of Ignatius, who lived at the close of 
the first, and the beginning of the second centmy, we 
find much said about Elders, (-r^stf^uTs^oi.) The fol- 
lowing is a specimen of the maimer in which he speaks 
of them, in connexion with the other classes of Church 
officers. " Obey your Bishop, and the Presb)1:ery (the 
Eldership) with an entii'e affection;" Epistle to the 
Ephesians, 20. " I exhort you that you study to do 
all things in a divine concord : your Bishop presiding in 
the place of God, yom- Elders in the place of the 
council of the Apostles, and your Deacons, most dear 
to me, being intmsted with the ministry of Jesus Christ." 
Again, " Do notliing^thout yom- Bishop and Elders;'' 
Epistle to the Magnesians, 6. 7. " It is, therefore, 
necessary, that, as ye do, so without your Bishop you 
should do nothing; also be ye subject to your Elders, 
as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our hope." Again. 
" Let all reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ, and 
the Bishop as the Father, and the Elders as the San 
hedrim of God, and the coBege of the Apostles.''* 
Again, "Fare ye weU in Jesus Christ; being subject 
to your Bishop as to the command of God, and so hke- 
wise to the Presbytery, (or Eldership f') Epistle to 
the Trallians, 2. 3. 13. "' Which also I salute in the 
blood of Jesus Christ, which is our eternal and unde- 
filed joy; especiaUy if they are at unity with the Bishop 
and Elders, vrho are with him, and the Deacons ap- 
pointed according to the mind of Jesus Christ." Again, 
• There is one cup, and one altar, and also one Bishop! 



THE FATHERS. 



79 



together with his Eldership, and the Deacons, my fel- 
low seiTants." Again, '-I cried whilst I was among 
you; 1 spake with a loud voice, Attend to the Bishop, 
to the Eldership, and to the Deacons;" Epistle to the 
Philadelphians, Pref. 4. 7. See that ye all follow 
your Bishop, as Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Pres- 
bytery (or Eldership) as the Apostles; and reverence 
the Deacons as the command of God." Again, It is 
not lawful without the Bishop either to baptize, or to 
celebrate the holy communion." Again, " I salute your 
very worthy Bishop; and your venerable Eldership^ 
and your Deacons, my fellow-servants ;" Epistle to the 
Smyrneans, 8, 12. " My soul be security for them 
who submit to their Bishop, with their Elders and 
Deacons;" Epistle to Poly carp, 6. 

The friends of Prelacy have long been in the habit 
of insistmg much on these and similar quotations from 
Ignatius, as affording decisive support to their system. 
But I must think that theii- confidence in this witness 
has not the smaRest sohd ground.* For, let it be re- 
membered that these several Epistles were directed, not 
to large, prelatical dioceses, but to single parishes, or 
congregations; that in each of these Chmches there 
are represented as being, a Bishop, a Presbytery, or 
bench of Elders, and a plurality of Deacons; and. 
therefore, that it is parochial episcopacy, and not dio- 
cesan, or prelatical, that is here described. And, ac- 
cordingly, we learn from different parts of these Epistles, 
that, in the time of Ignatius, each Bishop had under 

* Intelligent readers are no doubt, aware that the genuine^ 
ness of the Epistles of Ignatius has been called in question by 
a great majority of Protestant divines, and is not only really 
but deeply questionable.. AH inquiry, however, on this sub=»^ 
ject is waved for the present. 



80 



TESTIMONY OP 



liis pastoral charge, but " one altar," " one cup," « one 
loaf," i. e. one conunimion table, and that the people 
under his care habitually came together to " one place/" 
in other words, formed one assembly." 

Agreeably to this view of the subject, it is worthy of 
notice that Ignatius calls the Presbyters, or Elders of 
each Chm-ch which he addresses, the (Tuvs^^iov 0£oy, that is, 
the Sanhedrim, or council of God. But with what pro^ 
priety could he designate them by this title— the popular 
title of a well knou^i Je^qsh ecclesiastical court, — if they 
did not constitute a corresponding court in the Christian 
Church; and if the whole body of ecclesiastical officers 
which he addressed from time to time, were not the rulers 
of a single flock ? The tmth is, the whole language of 
Ignatius, in reference to the officers of whom he speaks, 
is STRICTLY PRESBYTERIAN, and caunot be con- 
sidered as affording countenance to any other system 
wdthout doing violence to its natm-al impoit. 

Accordingly, it is worthy of notice, that the learned 
Mr. Joseph Mede, a very able and zealous divine of the 
Church of England, and a decisive advocate of diocesan 
Episcopacy, gives a representation of the state of things 
in the time of Ignatius, which, in substance, falls in 
\\dth our account of the character of the Chm-ches ad- 
dressed by that Father. "It should seem," says he, 
J'that in those fii'st times, before dioceses were divided 
into those lesser and subordinate Churches, which we 
call parishes, and Presbyters assigned to them, they had 
only one altar to a Church, taking Church for the 
conipany or coiporation of the faithful, united under one 
Bishop or Pastor; and that was in the city or place 
where the Bishop had his see and residence. Unless 
this were so, whence came it else, that a schismatical 
Bishop was said, constituere, or collocare aliud at 



THE FATHERS. 



81 



tare7 And that a Bishop and an Altar are made 
correlatives?'"' 

The same fact is asserted by Bishop Stillingfleet. 
in his Sermon against Separation. " Though, when 
the Chmxhes increased," says he, "the occasional meet- 
ings were frequent in several places ; yet still there was 
but one Churchy and one Altar, and one Baptistery, 
and one Bishop, with many Presbj^ters attending him. 
Which is so plain in antiquity, as to the Churches 
planted by the Apostles themselves, that none but a 
great stranger to the histoiy of the Chui'ch can call it in 
question. It is true, after some time, in the greater cities, 
they had distinct places allotted, and Presbyters fixed 
among them ; — and such allotments were called Tituli 
at Rome, Laurm at Alexandria, and parishes in 
other places. But these were never thought, then, to 
be nevj Churches, or to have any independent govern- 
ment in themselves ; but were all in subjection to the 
Bishop, and his college of Presbyters; of which 
multitudes of examples might be brought from the most 
authentic testimonies of antiquity, if a thing so evident 
needed any proof at all. And yet this distribution, (into 
distinct Tituli,) even in cities, was looked on as so un- 
common in those elder times, that Epiphanius takes 
notice of it as an extraordinary thing at Alexandria; 
and, therefore, it is probably supposed that there was no 
such thing in all the cities of Crete in his time." 

That the Elders spoken of so frequently by Ignatius. 
were all the ofiicers of a si]igle parish or Congregation, 
is also evident, not only fi-om the title which he gives to 
the body of Elders; but also from the duties which he 
represents as incumbent on the Bishop with whom 



* Discourse on Church Government P* 48. 



82 



TESTIMONY OF 



these Elders were connected. It is represented as the 
duty of the Bishop to be present with h is flock when 
ever they came together ; to cmiduct their prayers; 
and to preside in all their religious assembhes. He is 
spoken of as the only person who was authorized, in 
ordinary cases, to administer Baptism, and the Lord's 
Supper; as the person by whom all 7narriages among 
the people of his charge were celebrated ; whose duty 
it was to be personally acquainted with all his flock ; 
who was bound to take notice, with his own eye, oi 
those who were absent from public worship : to attend 
to the wants of the ividoivs and all the poor of his con- 
gregation ; to seek out all by name, and not to overlook 
even the servant men and maids under his care ; to 
instruct the children; to reconcile di^erences, and, in 
short, to attend to all those objects, in detail, which are 
considered as devolving on every faithful parish minis- 
ter. Now, all these representations so plainly apply to 
the pastor of a single Church, and are so evidently 
impossible to be reahzed by any other person, that it 
would be a waste of time, and an insult to common 
sense, to attempt a more formal establishment of the 
position. 

But if the Bishop of Ignatius, be a simple parochial 
Bishop, in other words, the ordinary pastor of a con- 
gregation ; and if the Presbytery, or bench of Elders 
of which he so frequently speaks, are to be considered as 
all belonging to a single parish;— then we can scarcely 
avoid the conclusion, that they were not all of them 
employed in public preaching; but that theij- principal 
employment was, as assistants of the pastor, and in 
union with him, to discharge the duties of hispectors 
and Rulers of the Church. 

Again; Poly carp, writing to the Church of Phi 



THE FATHERS. 



83 



Uppi, most evidently and unequi\^ocaUy conveys the 
idea, that there was a plurality of Presbyters, (or 
Elders,) not only in his own Church, but also in that 
to which he wrote ; and that they were the regularly 
appointed ecclesiastical rulers. He addresses them 
thus: "Let the Elders be tender and merciful, com- 
passionate towards all, reclaiming those which have 
fallen into errors; visiting all that are weak; not 
neghgent of the widow and the orphan, and of him 
that is poor ; but ever providing what is honest in the 
sight of God and men ; abstaining from all wrath, 
respect of persons, and unrighteous judgment; avoiding 
covetousness ; not hastily beheving a report against any 
man ; not rigid in judgment ; knoAving that we are aU 
faulty, and obnoxious to judgment."* 

Cyprian^ in his 29th Epistle, directed "to his 
brethren, the Elders and Deacons," expresses himself 
in the following terms : — 

" You are to take notice that 1 have ordained 
Saturus, a reader, and the confessor Optatus, a 
sub-Deacon; whom we had all before agreed to place 
in the rank and degree next to that of the clergy- 
Upon Easter day, we made one or two trials of Satiirus, 
in reading, when we were approving our readers 
before the teaching Presbyters; and then appointed 
Optatus from among the readers, to be teacher of 
the hearers." On this passage, the Rev. Mr. Marshall, 
the Episcopal translator and commentator of Cyprian^ 
remarks : — It is hence, I think apparent that all Priesby- 
ters were not teachers, but assisted the Bishop in 
other parts of his ofiice." And Bishop Fell, another 
editor and commentator of Cyprian, remarks on the 



* Epistle to the PhilippianSf Sect. 6. 



84 



TESTIMONY OF 



same passage in the following words : Inter Presbyteros 
rectores et doctores olim distrinxisse vidr tur divus Pau- 
lus; ITim. v. 17." i. e. "St. Paid appears to have 
made a distinction, in ancient times, between teaching 
and ruling Elders, in 1 Timothy v. 17.— Here two 
learned Episcopal divines explicitly acknowledge the 
distinction between teaching and ruling Elders m 
the primitive Church ; and one of them, an eminent 
Bishop, not only allows that Cyprian referred to this 
distinction; but also quotes as an authority for it the 
principal text which Presbyterians adduce for the same 
purpose. 

There is another passage in Cyprian's 40th Epistle, 
which the very learned autliors of the Jus Divinum 
Regiminis EccJenastici' consider as containing an 
allusion to tlie office in question, and which may not 
be umvoithy of notice. At the time when Cyprian 
wrote this Letter, he was in a state of exile ^ from his 
Chm-ch. It is directed to the Elders, D€aco?is, and 
People at large, of his congregation; and contains an 
expression of his wish that one Numidicus should be 
reckoned, or have a place assigned him with the Pres- 
byters, or Eklers of that Church, and sit vdih the clergy. 
And yet it would appear that it was only as a ruling, 
and not as a teaching Elder that he was to be received 
by them; for Cyprian subjoins,— He shall be pro- 
moted, if God permit, to a more distinguished place 
m his religion, (or liis religious ftmction.) when, by the 
protection of Providence, I shall return." ' Here, it seems, 
the Presbytery, or Eldership in that Chmch were di- 
rected immediately to receive, or set apart, this man to 
theoffice o{ Elder among them ; and their absent pastor, 



^ Jus Divinum, &c. p. 171, 172. 



THE FATHERS. 



85 



or Bishop, promises that, when he returns, Numidicus 
shall be promoted to a still higher office. Now the 
only supposeable promotion in this case was to the office 
of a Teaching Elder. That the passage is very 
natui-ally susceptible of this construction, none will deny. 
At any rate, it is adopted by some of the most mature 
divines and scholars in England, of the seventeenth 
century; however unceremoniously it may have been, 
since rejected by less competent judges. 

Accordingly, it is worthy of notice, that the famous 
Henry Dodwell^ one of the most learned and zealous 
Episcopal writers in the British empire, of the seven- 
teenth century, notwithstanding his determined opposi- 
tion to every thing peculiarly Presbyterian; yet, in his 
telebrated Dissertations on Cyprian^ freely grants, 
that, in the days of that Father there were Elders or 
Presbyters in the Christian Church who did not 
preach. He represents this fact as undoubtedly taught 
by Cyprian, in his Epistles, and particularly refers, for 
proof, to the first of the passages cited in a preceding 
page. Nay, he expresses a full persuasion that a si- 
milar fact existed in the apostolic Church, and quotes 
1 Timothy v. 17, as a decisive confirmation of his opi- 
nion.* The notion, then, that all testimony supposed 
to be derived from Cyprian in favor of non-p7^eaching 
\: • Elders, is a dream of modern sectaries, for the purpose 
of carrying a favorite point in Church government, is 
plainly not tenable. Some of the best talents and most 
mature learning in the Christian Church, without any 
leaning to Presbyterian opinions, have decisively in- 
terpreted that Father, as setting forth such a class of 
Elders. 



* Dissertationes Cyprianicce, Vi. Sect. 4, 5, 6. 

H 



86 



TESTIMONY OF 



Hippoli/tus, who was nearly contemporary with 
Cyprian, repeatedly speaks of these Elders as existing, 
and as exercising authority in his day. In his Tract 
^' Against the heresy of a certain Noetus,^ he states, in 
the beginning of the work, that Noetus being charged 
with certain heretical opinions, the " Elders ('r^strguTe^oj) 
cited him to appear, and examined him in the presence 
of the Clmrch that Noetus having at first denied, 
but afterwards openly avowed the opinions imputed to 
him, — " the Elders summoned him a second time, con- 
demned him, and cast him out of the Church." It 
seems, then, that in the third century there were Elders^ 
whose duty it w£ls to examine, try, and excommunicate 
such members of the Church as were found delinquent 
with respect to either doctrine or morals. In this case, 
a part, at least, of the trial, seems to have been conducted 
" in the presence of the Church," of which they were 
rulers; but still the trial, conviction and excommuni- 
cation were by the Elders. 

Origeji, who, it is well known, flourished a little 
more than two hundred years after Christ, in the ibllow- 
ing passage, has a plain reference to the class of officers 
under consideration. " There are some Rulers ap- 
pointed whose duty it is to inquire concerning the man- 
ners and conversation of those who are admitted, that 
they may debar from the congregation such as commit 
filthiness."* This passage is replete with important and 
conclusive testimony. It not only proves, that, in the 
time of Origen, there were Riders in the Christian 
Church; but that the chief and peculiar business of 
these Rulers was precisely that which we assign to 
Ridhig Elders^ viz, inspecting the members of the 



Contra Cehum. Lib. iii. p. 142. Edit. Cantab. 1677. 



THE FATHERS. 



87 



Church; watching over all its spiritual interests; ad- 
mitting to its communion those who, on inquiry, were 
found worthy; and debarring those who were in any 
way immoral. It is perfectly evident from this pas- 
sage alone, that, in the days of this learned Father, the 
government and discipline of the Church were not con- 
ducted by the body of the communicants at large, but 
by a BENCH OF rulers. 

The same important fact is also indubitably implied 
in the language of Origen in another place. In his 
seventh Homily on Joshua^ he speaks of one who, 
" having been thrice admonished, and being unwilling 
to repent, was cut off from the Church hy its rulers.^'' 
Those who cut off then, fi'om the communion of the 
Church, and restored the penitent, in the time of Ori- 
gen^ were not the body of the communicants, but a 
bench of Elders. This great historical fact is, more- 
over, explicidy established, as having existed in the 
third century^ (the age of Origen^) by the Magde- 
hurgh Centuriators^ a body of very learned Lutheran 
Divines, contemporary with Melancthon^ and whose 
authority as ecclesiastical historians, is deservedly high. 
•' The right," say they, " of deciding respecting such as 
were to be excommunicated, or of receiving, upon their 
repentance, such as had fallen, was vested in the Elders 
of the Church* 

In the Gesta Ptirgationis Cceciliani et Felicis^ 
preserved at the end of Optatus^ and commonly re- 
ferred to the beginning of the fourth century, we meet 
with the following enumeration of Chui'ch officers : 
" Preshyteri^ Dimoni et tSeniores" i. e. " The 
Presbyters^ the Deacons and the Elders. And a 



* Qent.. iii. Cap. vii. p. 15J, 



88 



TESTIMONY OF 



little after is added — " Adhihite conclericos, et Senior es 
plebis, ecclesiasticos viros, et inquirant diligenter 
qum sint istcB dissentiones,^^ i.e. "Call the fellow 
clergymen aiid Elders of the people, ecclesiastical men, 
and let them inquire diligently what are these dissen- 
tions." In that assembly, hkewise, several letters were 
produced and read ; one addressed, Clero et Seniorihus^ 
i.e. "to the clergy and the Elders;" and another, 
Clericis et Senior ihus, i. e. " to the Clergymen and the 
Elders." Here, then, is a class of men expressly re- 
cognized as ecclesiastical men, or Church officers; 
who are styled Elders; who were constituent mem- 
bers of a solemn ecclesiastical assembly, or judicatory ; 
who are expressly charged with inquiring into matters 
connected with the discipline of the Church; and yet 
carefully distinguished from the Clergy, with whom 
they met, and officially united in the transaction of bu- 
siness. If these be not the Elders of whom we are in 
search, we may give up all the rules of evidence. 

Some, indeed, have said, that the phrase ecclesias- 
ticos viros, in one of the passages last cited, was not 
intended to designate Church officers at all ; that this 
phrase was early introduced to distinguish "me?^ of 
the Church,''^ i. e. Christians, fi om Pagans, and other 
enemies of Christ: and that it probably had some such 
meaning, and nothing more, in the ancient records 
from which the foregoing exti'acts are made. It is 
freely granted that the phrase, ecclesiastici viri, was. 
for a time employed, in the Christian Church, as well 
as by the surrounding heathen, in the sense, and for 
tlie purpose just mentioned. That is, when Christians 
were spoken of, as distinguished from Jews, Infidels, 
Heretics, &c. they were called ecclesiastical men, im- 
porting, that they did not belong to Jewish Synagogues^ 



TKE FATHERS. 



89 



or to Heatlieii Temples, or to Heretical sects; but were 
adherents, or members of the Church of Christ. But 
it is well known, that this language was never em- 
ployed in this sense among Christians themselves, when 
distinguishing one class of their own body from another. 
When used in this case, it always designated men in; 
ecclesiastical office.^ Besides, in the passages before 
us, there can be no doubt that the phrase under consi 
deration was used in the latter sense, and not in the 
former. For the ecclesiastical men, in these passages 
are represented as joined with the clergy in ecclesias- 
tical functions; especially as directed to investigate and 
settle ecclesiastical dissentions. Surely this could 
neither be required nor expected of men who sustained, 
no office, and were, of course, invested with no authority, 
in the Church. 

Another' objection which has been confidently ui'ged 
against the construction which we have put upon the 
extracts from the Gesta Purgationis, &c.,' is that the 
JSeniores or Elders of which they speak are mentioned 
AFTER Deacons, and, therefore, are to be considered 
as inferior to them. " Now," say these objectors, " the 
Riding Elders of the Presbyterian Church are always 
considered and represented, by the advocates of that 
denomination^ as above Deacons, rather than beloio 
them, on the scale of ecclesiastical precedence. Of 
course, the Senior heie spoketi of, cannot belong to 
the class of officers for which they contend o" To this 
objection it is sufficient to reply, that the mere order in 
which titles are arranged, cannot be considered as de- 
cisive of the relative mnk with which these titles are 



* Bingham's Origims Ecclesiastkm^ Book, chapter^ 
section 8.: 

H 2: 



90 



TESTIMONY OF 



connected. At once to illustrate and confirm this re- 
markj a single example will suffice. In the Epistles of 
Ignatius ^ when he speaks of Bishops^ or Pastors^ 
Elders and Deacons^ no intelligjent reader supposes 
that he means to represent the second and thirds of 
these classes of offices tts inferior to the first. Yet, in 
his Epistle to the Trallians, he speaks thus: — "Let all 
reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ ; and the Bishop 
as the Father; and the Presbyters as the Sanhedrim 
of God, and the college of the Apostles." This maj^ 
argue carelessness or haste in writing; or it may argue 
a mind in the v/riter, less intent on ecclesiastical prece- 
dence, than on more important matters; but it surely 
cannot be considered as deciding the relative standing 
of the different officers of whom he speaks. 

Besides, let it be recollected, that the date of these 
Gesta was about the year of Christ, 303, when the 
office of Ruling Elder ^ if we may credit the veiy ex- 
plicit testimony of Ambrose^ which will be stated pre- 
sently, was going gradually out of use. If ^o, nothing 
was more natural than that the writers and speakers of 
that day should be disposed to throw it on the back 
ground, and rather degrade than advance its appropri- 
ate rank in the scale of ecclesiastical honor. 

There is also a passage in Optatus^ of the African 
Church, who flourished a little after the middle of the 
fourth century, which corroborates the foregoing quota- 
tions. It is as follows: — "The Church had many 
ornaments of gold and silver, which she could neither 
bury in the earth, nor carry away with her, which she 
committed to the Elders^ {Senipribus,) as to faithful 
persons."* There can scarcely be a doubt that these 



* Opt AT, Lib. i. p. 41. edit. Paris. 1631,^ 



THE FATHERS, 



9i 



were not mere aged persons, but official men; and, 
especially, as we know, from the writings of Cyprian. 
who resided in the same country, that there were such 
officers in the African Church, a few years before. 

Ambrose^ who lived in the fourth century,* in his com- 
mentary on 1 Ti7nothy v. i, has the following- passage ; 
''For, indeed, among all nations old age is honorable. 
Hence it is that the Synagogue, and afterwards the 
Church, had Elders, without whose counsel nothing 
was done in the Church; which by what negligence 
it grew into disuse I know not, unless, perhaps, by the 
sloth, or rather by \h& /pride of the Teachers, while 
they alone wished to appear something." The great 
body of the Prelatists, as well as some others, have 
labored hard to divest this passage of its plain and 
pointed testimony in favor of the office of Ruling Elder. 
They insist upon it that the pious Father had no re 
ference whatever to ecclesiastical officers, but only to 
aged persons, and that he meant to say nothing more 
than that, formerly, in the Synagogue, and afterwards 
in the Church, there were old men, whom it was cus- 
tomary to consult ; which practice, however, at the time 
in which he wrote, was generally laid aside. This 
perversion of an obvious meaning, is really so strange 
and extravagant, that the formahty of a serious refuta- 
tion seems scarcely necessary. Can any reflecting man 
believe that Hilary designed only to inform his readers 
that in the Jewish Synagogues, there were actually 
persons who had attained a considerable age; that this 

* It is not forgotten that learned men have generally consi- 
dered the real name of this writer as Hilary Yet as the name 
of Ambrose is more frequently given to him, especially by many 
writers hereafter to be quotedf, the latter naree will be mora 
iritelligible, and, therefore, more convenient > 



92 



TESTIMONY OF 



was also, afterwards the case in the Christian Church ; 
and that these aged persons were generally consulted ? 
This would have been a sage remark indeed ! Was there 
ever a community of any extent, either ecclesiastical or 
civil, which did not include some aged persons 7 Or 
was there ever a state of society, or an age of the world 
in which the practice of consulting the aged and ex- 
perienced had fallfm into disuse 7 That thinkingr 
candid minds, should be able to satisfy themselves mth 
such a gloss, is tmly wonderful. It is certainly no 
argument in favor of this construction of the language 
of Ambrose, that he prefaces his statement respecting 
the Synagogue and the Church, by remarking, that 

among ail iiations old age is honorable." Surely no 
remark could be more natural or appropiate, when he 
was about to state, that, from the earliest period of the 
Christian Church, and long before in the Synagogue, all 
their affairs had been managed by colleges of Elders^ 
(a title importing a. kind of homage to age and ex 
perience,) without whose counsel notliing was done. 

But there is a clause in tiiis extract from Ambrose, 
which precludes all doubt that he intended to allude 
to a class of Church officers, and not merely to old. 
age. It is this: — "which by what negligence it 
grew into disuse, I know not, unless, perhaps, by the 
sloth, or- rather by the pride of the Teachers, who 
wished alone to appear something." It is very conceiva- 
ble and obvious that both the pride and the sloth of the 
Teachers, or Teaching Elders, should render them 
willing to get rid of a bench of officers of equal power 
with themselves, as Rulers in the Church, and, con^ 
sequently, able to control theii' wishes in cases of dis- 
cipline. But it cannot easily be conceived why eithei. 
sloth or pride should render any so particularly averse , 



THE FATHERS. 



93 



to all consulation with the aged and experienced, in 
preference to the young, on the affairs of the Church ; 
especially if these aged persons bore no office, and there 
was, of course, no official obligation to be govei'ned by 
their advice,, as the gloss under consideration supposes. 
It being evident, then, that a class of officers was here 
intended, the question arises, what class of Prehyters, 
or Elders, was that wliich had grown into disuse in 
the fourth century? Not teaching Presbyters, sui'ely; 
for every one knows that that class of Presbyters had 
not become obsolete in Ambrose's time. His own 
writings amply attest the reverse. And every one also 
knows that this class of Church officers has never been 
laid aside, or even diminished in number, to the present 
day. 

It is worthy of very particular notice here, also, as 
no . small confiimation of the construction which we. 
put upon the words of Ambrose, that all the most 
learned and able of the • Reformers, and a great 
nmnber of others, the most competent judges in such 
matters, from the Reformation to the present time, 
have concurred in adopting the same constmction, 
and have considered this worthy Father as referring 
to a class of Elders who held the place of inspectors 
and riders in the Church. Learned Lutherans, 
and Episcopalians, as well as Calvinists, almost 
without number, have united m the interpretation 
of this Father, which we have given, with a degi'ee 
of harmony truly wonderful, if that interpretation be 
entirely erroneous. Is it less likely that Luther, and 
Melancthon, and Bucer, and Whitgift, and Zan- 
chius, and Peter Martyr, who had no sectarian or pri- 
vate views to sen^e, should be able correctly to read and 
understand Ambrose, than that modern and more 



TESTIMONY OF 



superficial scholars should be betrayed into a mistaken 
construction, on the side in favor of which their feelino-p 
were strongly enlisted? No disrespect whatever is 
intended to the latter ; but it cannot be doubted that a 
great preponderance of testimony, both as to numbers 
and competency, is on the side of the former. 

Augustine^ Bishop of Hippo^ who also Hved toward 
the close of the fourth century, often refers to this class- 
of officers in his WTitings. Thus, in his work, Contra 
Cresconmm Grummaticum^ Lib, iii. Cap. 56, he 
speaks of " Peregrinus, Presbyter, et Seniores Ec~ 
desicBMusticance regionisf i. e. "Peregrine, the Pres- 
byter, and the Elders of the Church of the Mustacan 
district." And again, he addresses one of his Epistles 
intended for his Church at Hippo, in the following 
manner.— ^^Dilectissimis Pratribus, Clero, Senior i- 
tms et universcB Plebi Ecclesice Hipponensis Epist. 
137; i. e. "To the beloved brethren, the Clergy, the 
Elders, and all the people -of the Church at Hippo.-' 
There were some Elders, then, in the time of Augus- 
tine, whom he distinguishes from other Prebyters, and 
whom he also distinguishes from the Clergy. And. 
lest any should suppose that the . Elders here spoken of^ 
were not officers, but mere private members of the 
Church, he distinguishes them ixom ih^plebs universa 
of the Church. Augustine, also, in another place. 
{De Verb. Dom. Serm. 19,) speaks thus :— " Cum 
ob errorem aliqiiem a Senioribus arguimtitr, et 
imputatur alicui de illis, cur ebrius fuerit ? cur 
res alienas pervaserit ?" &c., i. e. " When they are 
reprehended for any error, by the Elders, and are 
upbraided with having been drunk, or with having 
been guilty of theft, &c." Can any one doubt that 
Augustine is here speaking, not of mere aged per som^^ 



THE FATHERS. 



95 



but of Church officers^ whose duty it was to inspect 
the morals of the members of the Church, and to 
" upbraid," or reprove those who had been reprehensi- 
ble in their deportment ? It would be easy to produce, 
from the same Father, a number of other quotations 
equally to our purpose. But Bingham^ in his Origines 
Ecclesiastics, Bishop Taylor, in his Episcopacy 
Asserted, and other learned Prelatists, have rendered 
this unncessary, by making an explicit acknowledg- 
ment, that Augustine repeatedly mentions these Se- 
niors or Elders, as belonging to other Churches as well 
as his own, in his time ; and that the same kind of 
Elders are frequently refered to by other writers, both 
before and after Augustine, as then existing in the 
Church ; as holding in it some kind of official station ; 
and yet as distinguished from clergymen. It is true, 
indeed, that Bingham insists upon it that these were 
not Riding Elders, in our sense of the word; but 
that they held some kind of office in the Church, and 
yet were not pubhc preachers, he explicitly grants. 
We ask nothing more. This is quite sufficient for our 
purpose. 

The ancient work, entitled Apostolical Constitu 
lions, although, by no means of Apostolical origin, 
was probably composed sometime between the second 
and fifth centuries. The following significant and 
pointed rule, extracted from that work, will be consi- 
dered by the intelhgent reader as by no means equivo- 
cal in its aspect: — "To Presbyters also, when they 
labor assiduously in the word and doctrine, let a double 
portion be assigned."* Here is, obviously, a distinction 
between Presbyters who are employed in teaching, and 



^ Apostol Constit, Lib, ii. Cap. 28. 



TESTIMONY Of 



those who are not so employed. To what duties the 
" pthers devoted themselves is not stated ; but it is evident 
that teaching made no part of their ordinary occupation. 
We may take for granted that their duty was to assist 
in the other spiritual concerns of the Church, viz.: in 
maintaing good order and discipline. This is precisely 
the distinction which Presbyterians make, and which 
they beheve to have been made in the prunitive Church= 
Accordingly the Presbyters, in the same relic of Chris^ 
tian antiquity, and in a subsequent part of the same 
chapter, are caUed ^Hhe ^^ouncellors of the Bishop, or 
pastor; and the Sanhedrim, or Senate of the Church:'' 
expressions which entiiely harmonize with our views 
of the office of Elder in the ancient Church. 

^To the same class of officers, hodore, of Hispala 
who flourished in the sixth century, seems to allude' 
when, in giving directions as to the manner in which 
pastors should conduct theii- official instructions, he 
says '—Prius docendi sunt Seniores plebis, tit per 
eos infra positi facilius doceantur f i.e. "The 
Elders of the people are first to be taught, that by them 
such as are placed under them, may be more easily 
instructed." Here again, these Serdores are evidently 
spoken of as Church officers, who were set over the 
people, and yet occupied a station mferior to that of the 
pastors, or pubhc preachers. 

Nor does this class of officers appear to have entirely 
ceased in the Chmch at as late a period as that of 
Gregory the great, who wrote in the latter part 
of the sixth century. In one of his Epistles he gives 
the following direction:-"If any thing should come to 
yom- ears concerning any clergymen, which may be 
justly considered as matter of offeni^e, do not easily be- 
heve It; but let truth be dihgently investigated by the 



THE FATHERS. 



Elders of the Church, who may be at hand, and then^ 
if the character of the act demand it, let the propei 
punishment fall upon the offender."* 

Here there is evidently a very distinct reference to 
such a class of officers as that of which we are speaking. 
They are distinguished from clergymen; and yet they 
are represented as ecclesiastical officers^ to whom it 
properly pertained to investigate ecclesiastical offences ; 
and to give advice and direction in pecuharly dehcate 
cases of discipline. At an earlier period of the Church, 
indeed, these Elders, as well as all other classes of 
ecclesiastical men, were styled clergymen; as we shall 
have occasion more fully to show hereafter : but from 
the fourth century and onward. Elders of this class 
declined in numbers and in popularity, and not long 
afterwards were in a great measure laid aside, excepting 
by the humble and devoted Witnesses of the Truth, of 
whose testimony we shall speak m the next chapter. 

There is another species of evidence here worthy of 
notice. The representation which the Fathers give of 
the manner in which the Bishop or Pastor and his 
Elders were commonly seated^ when the Church was 
assembled, and during the solemnities of pubMc worship, 
afford very strong evidence that the mass of the Elders 
were such as it is the object of this Essay to estabhsh. 
We are told by several of the early Fathers, that when 
the Church was convened for public worship, the Bishop, 
or Pastor, was commonly seated on the middle of a 
raised bench, or long semi-circular seat, at one end of 
the Church ; that his Elders were seated on each 
side of him, on the same seat, or on seats immediatel|r 

* Epistolas, Lib. ii. Epist. 19— quoted from the Poliikef. 
Ecdesiastiea of Voetius, Pars ii. Lib, ii. Tract, iii. 



98 



TESTIMONY OF 



adjoining", and commonly a little lower ; and that the 
Deacons commonly stood in front of this bench, ready 
to give any notice, to execute any order, or to perform 
any service which the Pastor or Elders might think 
proper to direct. This practice was evidently drawn 
from the Jewish Synagogue. And, indeed the order of 
assembhng, sitting, and worship in the Christian as- 
sembhes, for the first two or three centuries, so striking- 
ly resembled that of the Synagogue, that Christian 
Churches were frequently contemned, and opposed as 
Synagogues in disguise'''* 

This general fact is so well attested by the early 
Christian writers, that it is unnecessary to detain the 
reader by any formal proof of it. Now, if in every 
Church, when assembled in ordinary circumstances, 
there were present a Pastor, Overseer, or Bishop, and a 
body of Elders, sitting with him, and counselling and 
aiding him in the inspection and disciphne of the 
Church; it is hardly necessary to say, that these Elders 
could not all have been such Presbyters as the friends 
of Prelacy contend for, as their "second order of clerg}^" 
The supposition is absurd. They could only have been 
such a bench of pious and venerable men, as were chiefly 
employed in overseeing and ruling : and corresponding, 
substantially, with the Elders of the Presbyterian 
Church. It is true, indeed, the advocates of Prelacy 
endeavor to persuade us that these Presbyters were the 
stated preachers in the several congregations or wor- 
shipping assembhes which were, as they suppose, com- 
prehended in the Bishop's charge. But this supposition 
is wholly unsupported. Nay, it is directly contrary to 
the whole current of early testimony on this subject. 



* Th^rndike's Discourse on Religiom Assemblies^ p. 56. 



THE FATHERS. 



99 



The very same writers who inform us that there were 
any Presbyters at all in the Christian Church within 
the first three hundred years, represent a plurality 
OF THEM as sitting with the Bishop or Pastor, and pre- 
sent IN EVERY WORSHIPPING ASSEMBLY. There 

is no system mth which this statement can be made 
essentially to agree, but that which is received among 
Presbyterians. • 

Another strong argument in support of the doctrine 
of Ruling Elders, as drawn from the early Fathers, is 
found in the abundant evidence which their writings 
furnish, that, during the first three or four centuries 
after Christ, the great body of the Christian Presbyters 
did not ordinarily preach, indeed, never but by the 
special permission of the Bishop or Pastor. The fol- 
lowing statement by the learned Bingham, in his 
Origines Ecclesiastics, Book ii. chapter iii. sect. 4. 
will be found conclusive on this point : 

" The lil^e observation may be made upon the ofiice 
of PREACHING. This was in the first place the Bishop's 
office, which they commonly discharged themselves^, 
especially in the African Churches. Which is the 
reason we so frequently meet with the phrase, Trac- 
tante Episcopo, the Bishop preaching, in the writings 
of Cyprian. For then it was so much the office and 
custom of Bishops to preach, that no Presbyter was 
permitted to preach in their presence, till the time, of 
St. Austin, who, whilst he was a Presbyter was au- 
thorized by Valerius, his Bishop, to preach before him. 
But that, as Possidius, the writer of his life observes, 
was so contrary to the use and custom of the African 
Churches, that many Bishops were highly offended at 
it, and spoke against it ; till the consequence proved 
that such a permission was of good use and service to 



wo TESTIMONY OF 



the Church ; and then several other Bishops granted 
their Presbyters power and privilege to preach before 
them. So that it was then a favor for the Presbyters 
to preach in the presence of the Bishops, and wholly at 
the Bishop's discretion, whether they would permit 
them or not ; and when they did preach, it was wholly 
potestate accepta, by the power and authority of the 
Bishops that appointed them. In the E astern Churches 
Presbyters were more commonly employed to preach, 
as Possidius observes, when he says Valerius brought 
the custom into Africa from their examjiie. And St. 
Jerome intimates as much, when he complains of it as 
an ill custom only in some Churches to forbid Presby- 
ters to preach. Chrysostom preached several of hk 
elaborate discourses at Antioch, while he was but a 
Presbyter; and so m Aniens at Constantinople: and 
the same is observed to have been granted to the Pres- 
byters of Alexandria and Ccesarea, in Cappadocia, 
and Cyprus, and other places. But stiU it was but a 
grant of the Bishops; and Presbyters did it by their au^ 
thority and commission. And whenever Bishops saw just 
reason to forbid them, they had power to hmit or with- 
draw their commission again :— as both ^'ocrates and 
^^ozomen testify, who say that at Alexandria Presby- 
ters were forbidden to preach from the time that Arius 
raised a disturbance in the Church. Thus we see what 
a power Bishops anciently chaUenged and exercised 
over Presbyters in the common and ordinary offices of 
the Church : particularly for preaching, Bishops always 
esteemed it their office as much as any other.'' 
This statement is amply illustrated and confirmed by 
tjie learned author by numerous references to early 
-miexs of the highest reputation, which, it is altogether 



THE FATHERS, 



101 



unnecessary to recite, on account of the notoriety of the 
fact alleged. 

Can such a statement be contemplated a moment 
without perceiving, that the mass of the Presbyters or 
Elders, during the times here spoken of, were a very 
different class of officers from those commonly styled 
"Presbyters," in the Papacy afterwards, and in more 
modern Prelatical Churches ? The very circumstance 
of preaching making no part of their ordinary func- 
tion; nay, that, in ordinary cases, they were never 
allowed to do it, but in virtue of a special permission, 
which is evidently the import of the whole account, 
unless we make nonsense of it ; places it beyond all 
doubt that the authority which they received at ordina- 
tion, did not really commission them to preach at all ; 
but that the Bishop only was the commissioned preacher. 
This is exactly what Presbyterians say. — And if ever 
Ruling Elders or Deacons among us, conduct social 
worship, and address the people in public, it is always 
under the direction of the Bishop or Pastor, who may 
encourage or ai'rest it as he pleases. It is vain to say^ 
that Presbyters in the Protestant Episcopal Church at 
the present day cannot preach, or perform any ecclesi- 
astical act without the Bishop's permission. This is an 
idle evasion. The fact is, as every one knows, that 
their original ordination, as Presbyters; or " Priests," 
as they are called — conveys the full power to preach, 
administer sacraments, and perform every duty of the 
ordinary parochial ministration, statedly, and without 
any further let or impediment. The cases then, are 
wholly unlike. There were, evidently, in the days of 
Ignatius and Cyprian, of Chrysostom and Augus- 
tine, of Socrates and Sozomen, some Elders wha did. 
Bot ordinarily preach, and were not Goa?ida:ed as aiitka- 



102 



TESTIMON^Y OF 



nzed to engage in this part of the public service, without 
a special permission ; and who stood, not exactly, in- 
deed, but very much on the san>e ground, as to this: 
Jiiatter, with the Elders of our denomination. 

The tmth is, some of the very same writers who 
mform us that Elders and Deacons were not ordinarily 
allowed to preach, duruig the first three or four cen- 
turies also inform us, that laymen, in cases of 
necessity, might preach hy the Bishops pennission. 
This at once illustrates and strengthens the Presbyterian 
argument. For the same authority which might give 
a special pennission in each case, or a general permission, 
for a time, to an Elde?' or Deacon to preach ; which 
permission, it seems, might be revoked at pleasui-e, 
without touching the official standing of the individual 
much less deposing him from office might also au- 
thorize the merest layman in the whole parish ta 
perform the same sei-vice, whenever it was judged 
expedient to give the license. 

The truth of the matter seems to have been this. A 
iarge majority of the officers colled Elders, in the three 
first centuries, were, no doubt. Ruling Elders or- 
dained, it is probable, in the same manner with the 
Teaching Elders, i. e., with " the laying on of hands,'" 
and the same external solemnity in every respect. 
They were not qualified, and were not expected, when 
ordained, to be preachers; but were selected, on 
account of theii' piety, gravity, prudence, and experience- 
to agjsist in inspection and government. When, how 
ever, the Bishop or Pastor, who was the stated preacher, 
was- sick or absent, he might direct a Ruling Elder to 
mke bis place, on a single occasion, or for a few 
>^bbaths. But this function made no part of theii 
^tatei work ; and they seldom engaged in it. After a. 



THE FATHERS. 



10^ 



wliile, however, these Elders, like the Bishops on the 
one hand, and the Deacons on the other, began to 
aspire ; were more and more frequently permitted to 
preach until, at length, non-preaching Elders were 
chiefly banished fiom the Church. As this was a 
gradual thing, they were, of course, retained in some 
Churches longer than others. They were, probably, 
first laid aside in large cities, where ambition was most 
prevalent, laxity of morals most indulged, and strict- 
discipline most unpopular. In this way things pro- 
ceeded, until this class of officers was almost wholly lost 
sight of in the Christian community. 

One more testimony, by no m^ans unimportant, of 
the existence of this office in the primitive Church, is to 
be found in the Rev. Dr. Buchanan^ s account of the 
(Syrian Christians, contained in his Asiatic Re- 
searches. It will be borne in mind that the learned 
and pious author considers those Christians as having 
settled in the East, within the first three centuries after 
Christ, before the corniptions of the Church of Rome 
had been introduced, and when the original simplicity 
of Gospel order had been but in a small degree invaded. 
>Separating from the Western Church at that early 
period, and remaining, for many centuries, almost wholly 
-secluded from the rest of the world, they were found in 
a great measm*e free from the innovations and supersti 
tions of the Papacy. Now, if Ruling Elders had any 
existence in the Christian Church within the first three 
hundred years, as Ambrose expressly declares they had^. 
we might expect to find the Syrian Christians, in 
their seclusion, retaining some traces at least of thi? 
office in their Chwches. Accordingly, Dr. Buchanan,. 
in describing the circumstances^ of a visit which he paid 
one of the Churches of this simple and highly inteieist 



104 



TESTIMONY OP 



iug people, speaks as follows :— " When we arrived, I 
was received at the door of the Church by three Kas- 
heeshas, that is Presbyters, or Priests, who were habited 
in like manner, in white vestments. Their names 
were Jesv., Zecharias^ and UriaSy which they wrote 
down in my journal, each of them adding to his name 
the title of Kasheesha. There were also present two 
Shumshanas, or Deacons. The Elder Priest was a 
very intelligent man, of reverend appearance, having a 
long white beard, and of an affable and engaging de- 
portment. The three principal Christians, or Lay- 
Elders, belonging to the Church, were named Ahra- 
ham, Thomas and Alexandros.''^* 

This remarkable fact, it is beheved, belongs most pro- 
perly to the present chapter. For if these simple Syrian 
Christians were really settled in the East, as early as 
Dr. Buchanan seems, with good reason, to suppose, 
and were, for many centuries entirely secluded from all 
foreign influence ; we may consider them as having in 
operation among them, substantially, that ecclesiastical 
system which existed through the gTeater part of the 
Christian Church at the close of the third, and the 
beginning of the fourth century. A kind of testimony 
which, of course, falls in with our purpose in examinino^ 
the testimony of the early ages of the Church. 

Such then, is the amount of the testimony from the 
Christian Fathers. They tell us, with a unanimity 
and fi-equency truly remarkable, that, in every Chm-ch, 
there was a bench or college of Elders:— That they sat- 
with the Bishop or Pastor, as an ecclesiastical judicatory, 
and Avith him ruled tho Church:— That this bench or 



* CkrisUan Researches m Asia, V' 75-. N.York Edit. t2mo 



THE FATHERS. lOS' 

body of rulers was called by various names in different 
parts of the world; — such as, Ecclesim Consessus — 
the Session or Consistory of the Church; twv •n-^eo'^uTS^wv 
tfous^^iov, the court or Sanhedrim of the Eldfers; — Ec-- 
clesicB fSenatus, the Senate of the Church; — BouXth 
sxxkr](tia.^, the Council of the Church, &c. &c. : — That 
they were always present with the Bishop or pastor 
when he presided in public worship: — That he did 
nothing of importance without consulting them: — 
That they seldom or never preached, unless in cases of 
necessity, or when specially requested to do so by the 
pastor : — -That they were more frequently than other 
wise called clergymen, Hke the Elders who " labored 
in the word and doctiine," but sometimes distinguished 
from the clergy : — That, however, whether caUed cler- 
gymen or not, they were " ecclesiastical men," that is, 
set apart for ecclesiastical purposes, devoted to the spi- 
ritual rule and edification of the Church: — That all 
questions of discipline, such as admitting members into 
the Church, inspecting their Christian deportment, and 
censuring, suspending and excommunicating, , were de- 
cided by these Elders ; and, finally, from all it is appa- 
rent, that as discipline became unpopular, and ecclesias- 
tics more aspiring, the ruling part of the Elder's office 
was gradually laid aside, and the teaching part alone 
retained. 



CHAPTER V* 



TESTIMONY OF THE WITNESSES FOR THE TRUTH, 
DURING THE DARK AGES. 

It has been the habit of zealous and high-toned 
Prelatists, for more than two centuries past, as well as 
of some Independents, to assert^ that RuL'ng Elders 
were unknown in the Christian Church until about the 
year 1541; that then Calvin inveiited the order, and 
introduced it into the Church of Geneva. And some 
worthy men, of other denominations, have allowed 
themselves, with more haste than good advisement, to 
adopt and repeat the assertion. It is an assertion which^ 
undoubtedly, cannot be made good ; as the following 
testimonies will probably satisfy every impartial reader. 

At how early a period the Old Waldenses took their 
lise is uncertain. In some of their Confessions of Faith, 
and other ecclesiastical documents, dated at the com- 
mencement, or soon after the coiimiencement, of the 
Reformation by Luther, they speak of their Doctrine 
and Order as having been handed down from father 
to son for more than five hundred years. But Rei 
7i€rms, who himself hved about two hundred and fifty 
years before Luther, who had once resided among the 
Waldenses, but afterwards became one of their bitterest 
persecutors, seems to ascribe to that people a much 
earlier origin. " They are more pernicious," says he, 
4o the Church of Rome than any other set of here ' 



THE WITNESSES, feC, 



107 



tics, for three reasons: — 1. Because they are older than 
any other sect; for some say that they have been ever 
since the time of Pope Sylvester, (who was raised to 
the Papal chair in 314;) and others say, from the time 
of the Apostles * 2. Because they are more extensively 
spread than any other sect; there being scarcely a 
country into which they have not crept. 3. Because 
other sects are abominable to God for their blasphemies ; 
but the Waldenses are more pious than any other he- 
i-etics; they believe truly of God, live justly before men, 
and receive all the articles of the creed; only they hate 
the Church of Romer 

Now, John Paul Perrin, the well known historian 
®f the Waldenses, and who was himself one of the 
ministers of that people, in a number of places recog- 
nizes the office of Elder, distinguished from that of 
Pastor, or Teacher, as retained in their Churches. He 
expressly and repeatedly represents their Synods as 
composed of Mi7iisters and Elders. The same writer 
tells us that, in the year 1476, the Hussites, being en^ 
gaged in separating and reforming their Churches from 
the Church of Rome, understood that there were some 
Churches of the ancient Waldenses in Austria, in 
which the purity of the gospel was retained, and in 
which there were many eminent Pastors. In order to 
ascertain the truth of this account, they (the Hussites) 
sent two of their Ministers, with two Elders, to inquire 
and ascertain what those flocks or congregations were.* 

* Reinerius flourished about A. D., 1250, more than 230 
years before the Reformation ; and, at that time, he speaks of 
the Waldenses as an ancient people, of too remote an origin 
to be traced with distmc^ne^s and certainty. 

f History of the Old Waldenses, Part ii. Book 1, Chap. 10, 
Book 2, Ghap. 4. B©ok 5, Chap. 7. 



'08 TEaTlMONY OP 



The same historian, in the same work, speaks of the 
Ministers and Elders of the Bohemian Churches* 
iMowthe Bohemian Brethren, it is well known were 
a branch of the same people called Waldenses.^ Thev 
had removed from Picardy, in the north of Prance 
about two hundred years before the time of Huss and 
Jerome, to Bohemia, and there, in conjunction with 
many natives of the country, whom they brought over 
to their opinions, established a number of pure Churche« 
which long maintained the simplicity of the gospel 
The undoubted existence of Ruling Elders, then, 
among the Bohemian Brethren, affords, in itself, stron<i 
presumptive proof that the same class of officers existed 
in other branches of the same body. And, accordingly 
a Synod, of which we have an account, as held in 
Piedmont, in Italy, in 1570, is represented, repeatedly 
as made up of " Pastors and Elders." Again • in the 
Form of Governmem of the same people, in the chapter 
on Excommunication, we find the following direcdon 
lespectmgthe disorderly, who refuse tohsten to private 
admonition -.---Tell it to the Church, that is, to the 
Guides, whereby the Church is ruled ;" and that we 
may be at no loss who these "Rulers" were, we are 
to.d, m a preceding chapter, that they were Elders 
chosen from among the people for the purpose of go 
vernmg; and informed that they were distinct from the 
pastors. 

"^^'"''^ ^«<^ i« ^"PPorted by 

that of M. Gilhs, another historian of the Waldenses 
and also one of theii- Pas tors. In the Confession of 

* Part ii. Book 2. chapter 9, 10. 



THE WITNESSES, &e. 



109 



Faith of that people, inserted at len^h ill the "Addition" 
to his work, and stated by the historian to have been 
the Confession of the Ancient^ as well as of the Modern 
Waldenses, it is declared, (p. 490 — Art. 31,) that " It 
is necessary for the Church to have Pastors, to preach 
God's word, to administer the sacraments, and to watch 
over the sheep of Jesus Christ ; and also Elders and 
Deacons, according to the rules of good and holy 
Church discipline, and the practice of the j)rimitive 
Church.''^ 

Sir Samuel Moreland, who visited the Waldemes 
in the year 1656, and took unwearied pains to learn 
from themseh^es their History, as well as theii- Doctrine, 
and Order; informs us that, besides their Synodical 
meetings, which took place* once a year, when all can- 
didates for the pastoral office were commonly ordained; 
they had also Consistories in their respective Churches, 
by means of which pure Discipline was constantly 
maintained* 

Accordingly, the Rev. Dr. Ranken, in his laboriously 
learned History of France, gives the following account 
of the Waldenses and Albigenses, whom he veiy pro- 
perly represents as the same people. Their govern- 
ment and disciphne were extremely simple. The 5^outh 
intended fdr the ministry among them, were placed under 
the inspection of some of the elder barbes, or pastors, who 
trained them chiefly to the knowledge of the Scriptures; 
and when satisfied of their proficiency, they received 
them as preachers, with Iniiposition of hands. Their 
pastors were maintained by the voluntary offerings of 
the people. The whole Church assembled once a year, 



* History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont, Book, i 
chapter, viii. 

k 



110 



TESTIMONY OF 



to treat of their general affairs. Contributions were then 
obtained; and the common fund was divided, for the 
year, among not only the fixed pastors, but such as were 
itinerant, and had no particular district or charge. If 
any of them had fallen into scandal or sin, they were 
prohibited from preaching, and thrown out of the society. 
The pastors were assisted in theii- inspection of the peo- 
ple's morals, by Elders^ whom probably both pastors 
and people elected, and set apart for that purpose."* 

Further ; not only does P err in speak of the Minis- 
ters and Elders of the Bohemian Chmches, thereby 
plainly intimating that they had a class of Elders 
distinct from their Pastors^ or Preachers; hut the 
same thing is placed beyond the possibihty of doubt or 
question by the Bohemian Brethren themselves, who, 
in the year 1535, presented a Confession of their Faith^ 
to Perdina?id, king of Hungary and Bohemia^ with 
a fi-iendly and highly commendatory Preface by Euther: 
and who, a number of years afterward published their 
" Plan of Government and Disci^diney^ which con- 
, tains the following paragraph : — r 

'■^Elders [Preshytert^ sen Censores moriim) dx% 
lK3nest, grave, pious men, chosen out of the whole con- 
gregation, that they may act as guardians of all the rest. 
To them authority is given, (either alone, or in con- 
nexion with the Pastor) to admonish and rebuke those 
who transgress the prescribed rules, also to reconcile 
those who are at variance, and to restore to order what- 
ever irregularity they may* have noticed. Likewise in 
secular matters, relating to domestic concerns, the 
younger men, and youths are in the habit of asking 
their counsel, and of being faithfully advised by them. 



* History af France, Vol. iii. p. 203, 204. 



THE WITNESSES, &C. 



Ill 



From the example and practice of the ancient Churchy 
we believe that this ought always to be done ; See 
Exodus xviii. 21. — Deuteronomy i. 13. — ICor. vi. 2, 
1, 5.— ITim. V. 17." 

This, they say, at the close, "is the ecclesiastical order 
which they and their forefathers had had established 
among tlieinfor two hundred years;* which they de- 
rived from the word of God: which they maintained 
through much persecution, and with much patience ; 
and which they had observed with much happy fruit to 
themselves, and to the people of God."t 

And that aU mistake might be precluded respecting 
the real import of the above stated clauses, the Bohe- 
mian historian and commentator, Comenius^ makes 
the following remarks on the Elders in question : — 

" Presbyter^ a Greek term, signifying the same with 
Senior^ in Latin (an Elder) \^ applied by the Apostles 
both to the Pastors of the Church, and to those who 
assisted them in taking care of the flock, who do not 
labor in the word and doctrine; 1 Timothy v. 17. 
Such are our Elders; they are styled Judges of the 
congregation^ or Censors of the people^ and also 
Ruling Elders. I am not ignorant, indeed, that Hugo 
Grotius^ has labored hard to prove that*% the Apostles 
days, there were no other Presbyters than Pastors] 



* The "Plan of Government and Discipline," from which the 
above extracts are made, was drawn up by their General 
Synod" in 1616, and printed in 1632. When, therefore, they 
declare that they and their foref'^thers had enjoyed the same 
order for two hundred years, it carries ba -k the date of this sys- 
tem to 1416), that is, to the time of John Huss ; and, of course, 
nearly, a century before the birth of Calvin. 

f Jo. Amos Comenii Historia Fratrum Bohemorum Ratio 
Disciplinoe, Ordinis^ue, Sfc. 11. 56. 68, 



112 



TESTIMONY OF 



and that he assigns a different meaning to the passage 
in 1 Timothy v. 17. Yet, inasmuch as he finally con- 
fesses, that, alihovgh such Elders of the Church as 
sit with the Pastors, in Ecclesiastical Judicatories, 
he an institution of human prudence, they are, never- 
theless, very usef ul, and ought by. all yneans to he 
retained, I hope no one will easily find any reasonable 
objection. To guard against abuses, he subjoins very 
judicious cautions, at the close of chapter xi. of the book 
which he entitled, De Imperio ^iimmarum Potesta- 
tum circa Sacra.^^"^ 

In precisely the same manner are both the theory 
and practice of the Bohemian Brethren understood by 
the celebrated Martin Bucer, a very learned Lutheran 
divine, whose fame, throughout Europe, induced Arch- 
bishop Cranmer to invite Him to England, during the 
progress of the Reformatien in that country, where he 
received patronage and preferment, arid was held in 
high estimation. Bucer was a contemporary of the 
Bohemian worthies who pubhshed the exhibition of 
their faith and practice above quoted, and, of course, had 
every opportunity of knowing both its letter and spirit. 
He speaks of it in the following terms : — 

The Bohe?f^n Brethren, (Picardi,)t who published 
a Confession of their faith, in the year 1535, with a 
Preface by Luther, and who almost alone preserved in. 



* Annotationes ad Rationem Ordinis Fratrum Bokeino7-tim., 
ad Cap i. p. 68. 

f Bucer styles these worthy people, Fratres Picardi, in refer- 
ence to their orig'iD from the JFaldenses, or rather the branch 
csWed Jllbigenses in France, to which those who migrated to 
Bohemia belonged But the people to whom he refers are 
ascertained with unerring' certainty by the "Confessioo of 
^^aitM" whiqh he so precisely describes. 



THE WITNESSES, &C. 



113 



the world the purity of the doctrine, and the vigor of 
the discipline of Chiist, observed an excellent rule foi' 
which we are compelled to give them credit, and espe- 
cially to praise that God who thus wrought by them, 
notwithstanding those brethren are preposterously de- 
spised by some learned men. The rule which they 
observed was this : besides Ministers of the Word 
and Sacraments, they had, in each Church, a bench 
or College of men, excelling in gravity and prudence, 
who performed the duties of admonishing and correcting 
offenders, composing differences, and j udicially deciding 
in cases of dispute. Of this kind of Elders, Hilary 
[Ambrose) wrote, when he said — " Therefore the Syna- 
gogue and afterwards the Church had EMers, without 
whose counsel nothing was done."* 

It would seem difficult to deny or resist this testimony 
that the Bohemian Brethren held to Ruling Elders, 
and actually maintained this class of officers in their 
Churches. Could Bticer, whom Mr. Middleton, in his 
Biographia Evangelica, represents as "a man of im- 
mense learning," and who is spoken of, by Bishop Bur- 
7ietj as, perKaps, inferior to none of all the Reformers 
for learning ;" — could he have been ignorant, either of 
the real meaning of a pubUc document, put forth in bis 
own time, or of the pubhc and uniform practice of a body 
of pious people, whom he seems to have regarded with 
so much respect and affection, as witnesses for God in 
a dark world? It cannot be imagined. And what gives 
additional weight to the testimony of this illustrious 
man is, that he seems to have had no interest what- 
ever in vindicating this class cf Church Officers; for it 



* Scripta duo Adversaria Latorni, &c. in Cap. i>« Ecchsi€t 
*Mtoritale. p.. 159^ 

k2. 



TESTIMONY OF 



is not known that he ever had any special inducement, 
fipm a sense of reputation^ or any other cause, to exert 
himself iij maintaining them; and the latter part of 
his life was spent in England, in the service of the 
established Church of that kingdom, in the bosom of 
w^hich he died. 

As a further confirmation of Bucer's judgment in 
reference to the Bohemian Brethren, the celebrated 
John Francis Buddceus, an eminently learned Lu- 
theran divine, of Germany, of the seventeenth century, 
who gave an edition, with a large preface, of the work 
of Comenius, in which the History/ of the Bohemiaii 
Brethren, ^nA their Form of Govemnent, are pub- 
hshed, eviden^y understands their plan in reference to 
the office of Ruhng Elder, precisely as Bmer, and other 
learned men have understood it. He employs the 
greater pait of hi^ preface in recommending this office^ 
And, although he does not seem prepared to allow that 
it existed, as a separate office, in the apostolic Church ; 
yet he thinks that, virtually, and in substance, it did 
make a part of the apostolic system of supervision and 
order. He thinks, moreover, that, without some sucli 
office, it is wholly irnpossible to maintain pure morals 
and sound discipline in tlie Churcli of God; and that 
the Bohemia7i Brethren rendered a most important 
service to the cause of truth and piety in maintaining it 
ill their ecclesiastical system.* 

Luther, in some of his early witings, had expressed 
an unfavorable opinion of the Bohemian Brethren ; but^ 
upon being more fully informed of their Doctrine and 
Order, and more especially of their provision for main 



* Jo. FfiANCisci BuDBAEi Eraefatio de instauranda Dh; 
dplina Ecdesiastica — Passim. 



THE WITNESSES, &C. 



115 



taining sound discipline, by means of their Eldership' 
in each congregation, he changed his opinion, and be 
eame wilhng both to speak and to write strongly in 
their favor. Hence, his highly commendatory Preface,, 
to their Confession af Faith" of which mention; 
has been aheady made. And hence, at a still later 
period, the following strong expressions in favor of the 
same people. " There hath not arisen any people, 
since the times of the Apostles, whose Clmrch hath 
come nearer to tlie apostolical doctrine and order, than 
the Brethren of Bohemia " And again ; although these 
Brethren do not excel us in purity of doctrine, (all the 
articles of faith with us being sincerely and purely taken 
out of the Word of God,) yet in the ordinary discipline 
of the Church which they use, and whereby they hap 
pily govern the Churches, they go far be5^ond us, and 
are, in this respect, far more praise-worth}^ And we 
cannot but acknowledge and yield this to them, foi 
the glory of God, and of his truth ; whereas our people 
of German]/ cannot be persuaded to be willing to take 
the yoke of discipline upon them."* 

It is presumed that no one, after impartially weighing 
the foregoing testimonies, will listen, for one moment, 
* with any respect, to the allegation, that the plan of a 
Bench of Elders for ruling the Church and conducting 
its discipline, was invented by Calvin. But we ma) 
go further. The truth is that, instead of the Waldeiises, 
or Bohemian Brethren taking this order of officers 
from Calvin, it maybe affirmed, that precisely the 
REVERSE WAS THE FACT. We liave Satisfactory evi 
dence that Calvin took the hint from the Bohemian. 
Brethren ; and that the system which he afterwards 



* JoH. A. CoMENii Historia Bokm. Frat, Sect 82, 



116 



TESTIMONY OF 



established in Geneva, was really suggested and 
prompted by the example of those pious sufferers and 
witnesses for the truth, who had this class of officers in 
their Churches long before Calvin^s day. This will be 
made clearly to appear from the following statement. 

When Calvin first settled in Geneva, in 1536, he 
found the Reformed Rehgion ah eady introduced, and 
to a considerable extent, supported, under the ministry 
of Far el and Viret, tv/o bold and faithful advocates of 
evangelical truth. Such, however, was the opposition 
made to the doctrines which they preached, and espe- 
cially to the purity of discipline which they struggled 
hard to estabhsh, by the licentious part of the inhabi- 
tants, among, whom were some of the leadmg Magis- 
trates : that, in 1538, Calvin and his Colleagues were 
expelled from their places in the Genevan Churchy 
because they refused to administer the Lord's Supper 
to the vikst of the population who chose to demand the 
privilege. In a paroxysm of popular fury^ those faith- 
ful ministers of Christ were commanded to leave the 
city within two days. During this temporary triumph, 
of error and profligacy, Calvin retired to Strasburg^ 
where he was appointed Professor of Divinity and. 
Pastor of a Church, and where he remained nearly 
four years. 

In 1540, the year before he w^as recalled to Geneva, 
he corresponded with the Bohemian Brethren, and 
made himself particularly acquainted with their plan 
of Church government, which he regarded with deep, 
interest ; an interest, no doubt greatly augmented by 
the sufferings which he had recently undergone in 
fruitless efforts to maintain the purity of ecclesiastical 
discipline; in which efforts he had been baffled chiefly 
by the want of such an efficient system as the Bohe 



THE WITNESSES, &C. 



117 



mian Churches possessed. In the course of this cor- 
respondence, while yet in exile for his fidelity, Calvin 
addressed the Bohemian Pastors in the following pointed 
terms : — heartily congratulate your Churches, upon 
which, besides sound doctrine, God hath, bestowed 
so many excellent gifts. Of these gifts it is none 
of the least, to have such Pastors to govern and order 
them; to have a people themselves so well affected and 
disposed; to be constituted under so noble a form of 
government ; to be adorned with the most excellent, 
disciphne, which we justly call most excellent, and, in- 
deed, the only bond by which obedience can be pre- 
served. I am sui e v/e find with us, by woful experience,, 
what the worth of it is, by the want of it ; nor yet can 
we by any means attain to it. On this account it is, 
that 1 am often faint in my mind, and feeble in the 
discharge of the duties of my office. Indeed I should 
quite despaii', did not this comfort me, that the edifica- 
tion of the Church is always the work of the Lord, 
which He himself will carry on by his own power, 
though all help beside should fail. Yet still it is a 
great and rare blessing to be aided by so necessary a 
help. Therefore I shall not consider our Churches as^ 
fXojperly strengthened^ until they can he hound to- 
gether hy that hondr And the pious Historian, after 
giving this extract from the venerable Reformer, adds : 
"It so happened, in the course of Di\dne Providenccr 
that, not long aftewards, this eminent man was recalled 
to minister in the Church of Geneva^ where he estab- 
lished THE VERY SAME KIND OF DISCIPLINE, whicll 

is. now famed throughout the world."* 

Testmiony more direct and conclusive could scarcely 



I 

K^QB.. A, CoMEmi Historia Bokem. Frat. Sect. QO. 



118 



TESTIMONY OF 



be desired. Comenius^ himself a Bishop of the Bohe- 
nian Brethren, surely knew what kind of Eldership it 
was which was established among the Churches of his 
own denomination. He says it was the very same 
with that which Calvin afterwards established in 
Geneva. We know, too, that this venerable man, 
before he was expelled from Geneva, in 1538, and 
while he was i struggUng and suffering so much for 
want of an efficient discipline, made no attempt to 
introduce the institution in question. But during his 
painful exile, his attention is forcibly turned to the 
Bohemian plan. He is greatly pleased \vith it ; speaks 
in the strongest terms of its excellence ; declares that he 
has no hope of any Church prospering until it is intro- 
duced; and the very next year, on his return, makes 
it one of the conditions of his resuming his pastoral 
charge, that this plan of conducting the discipline of the 
Church, by a bench of Elders, shall be received with 
him, and thus causes it to be adopted in Geneva. 

And yet the historian of the Waldenses. John Paul 
Perrin, has been reproached, and insinuations made 
unfavorable to his honesty, because he has represented 
the Bohemian Brethren as having ecclesiastical Elders 
distinct from their Ministers of the gospel. How utterly 
unjust ^uch reproaches are, every one must now see. 
If there were ever Puling" Elders in Geneva, they were 
found in the Churches of Bohemia. Nor is it any solid 
objection to the fact, as we have stated it, that they had 
some other features in their system of Church order, 
which were not strictly Presbytei ian. All that the histo- 
rian has to do is with facts. Having stated these, he 
is answerable for nothing more. That those Churches 
gave the title of Seniors, but more frequently of Antis- 
tites to certain elderly clergymen, who were peculiarly 



THE WITNESSES, &C. 



119 



venerable in their character, and who chiefly took the 
lead in all ordinations^ is, no doubt, true ; that, in their 
plan of Church government, they distinguished their 
Diaconi from their Eleemosynarii ; and that they in-, 
elude in the list of their ecclesiastical offices, some which 
are strictly secular^ is also manifest. But surely none ol 
these invalidate the fact, that they had Riding Elders; 
a fact stated in a manner which it is impossible either 
to doubt or mistake. 

Thus we have good evidence, that all the most dis- 
tinguished and faithful witnesses for the truth, during 
the dark ages, with whose faith and order we have any 
minute acquaintance, carefully maintained the office 
for which we are contending; that some of them, at 
least, considered it as of Divine apfointment, and ac-^ 
cordingjy quote ui its support Scriptural authority ; and 
that they appear, with good reason, to have regarded it 
as one of the most efficient means, under the Divine 
blessing, of promoting the spiritual order and edification 
of the Church. 



CHAPTER VI. 



TESTIMONY OF THE REFORMERS, & OTHER LEARNEiD 
AND DISINTERESTED WITNESSES, NEARLY CON' 
TEMPORARY WITH THEM. 

We have seen how utterly grouncQess is the agser^ 
lion, that Ruling Elders were invented and first 
introduced by Calvin at Geneva. If there be any truth 
in history, they were in use long befoi'e Calvin 
born, and in the purest Churches on earth, to say nothing 
~ of their apostolical origin. Nor is this all. It may fur- 
ther be maintained, that a great majority of the Refor- 
mers, in organizing those Churches which separated 
from the Church of Rome, either actuaHy introduced 
this class of officers, or, in their published writings, freely 
and fiiUy declared in its favor. And this was the case, 
as we shall presently see, not merely on the part of 
those who followed Calvi?!, both as to time and opinion • 
but also on the part of those who either preceded, or had 
no ecclesiastical connexion whatever, with that illustrious 
man ; and who were far from agreeing \\ith him in 
many other particulars. Now this is surely a marvellous 
fact, if, as some respectable miters would persuade us to 
believe, the office in question is a mere figment of Gene- 
van contrivance, toward the middle of the sixteenth 
century. 

The first Refoimer whose testimony I shall adduce 
in favor of this office, is Ulrick Zuingle, the celebrated 
leader in the work of Reformation in ^Switzerland, 



THE REFORMERS. 



121 



And I mention him first, because, as he never was 
connected with Calvin; nay, as he was removed by 
death, in 1531, five years before Calvin ever saw 
Geneva^ or appeared in the ranks of the Reformers, 
and ten years before the introduction of RuUng Elders 
into that city, he cannot be suspected of speaking 
as the humble imitator of that justly honored indi- 
vidual. 

On the subject of Ruling Elders, Zuingle speaks 
tiius: — " The title of Presbyter, or Elder, as used in 
Scripture, is not rightly understood by those who con- 
sider it as applicable only to those who preside in 
preaching: For it is evident that the term is also 
sometiemes used to designate Elders, of another kind, 
that is, JSenators, Leaders, or Counsellors. So we 
read Acts xv., where it is said, the Apostles and Elders 
come together to consider of this matter. Here we 
see that the Elders spoken of are to be considered 
as Senators or Counsellors. It is evident that the 
«?r^£g/3uT£^o» mentioned in this place were not Ministers 
of the word; but that they were aged, prudent and 
venerable men, who, in directing and managing the 
affairs of the Church, were the same thing as the 
Senators in our cities. And the title Elder is used in 
the same sense, in many other places in the Acts of the 
Apostles."* 

Again ; Oecolampadius, who also died before Calvin 
appeared as an active Reformer, and of course before 



* This quotation from Zuingle, is taken from the Politim 
Ecclesiasticce of Voetius, in which it is cited for the same purpose 
as here ; a copy of the works of ttie Swiss Reformer not beioff at 
.present within the reach of the writer of the.Essajr, 



122 



TESTIMONY OF 



the introduction of Ruling Elders into the Church of 
Geneva, speaks thus, in an Oratimi which he pro- 
nounced before the Senate of Basil, in 1530, about a 
i year before his death. " But it is evident that those 
which are here intended, are certain Seniors, or Elder s^ 
such as were in the Apostle's days, and who of old time 
were called ^^ss[3vrs^(n, whose judgment, being that of 
the most prudent part of the Church, was considered 
as the decision of the whole Church." 

Here, again, is the testimony of a man, who could 
not have been influenced by any knowledge of the 
opinions of Calviji, for Calvin had, as yet, pubhshed 
no opinions on the subject: — and who yet speaks in 
very unequivocal terms of a class of officers, as not only 
existing afterwards, but as of apostolical institution ; 
Avhich, according to some, were not known in the 
Church, either in theory or practice, for ten years after 
the decease of this distinguished reformer. 

The testimony of Martin Bucer, as one of the most 
venerable and active of the Reformers, properly belongs 
to. this branch of the subject. But as his sentiments 
were so fully detailed in 'the quotation from him, 
presented in the preceding chapter, it is not deemed 
necessary to repeat the statement here. From that ex- 
tract it is evident, not only that he approved of the 
office of Ruling Elder, as of eminent use in the Church : 
but also that he considered Ambrose as asserting that 
officers of this class were found in ih^ primitive Church, 
and that he agreed with the pious Father in maintaining 
this assertion. Here was another eminently learned 
man, and a contemporary of Calvin, who bears testi- 
mony, that Ruling Elders were in use, in the purest 
portion of the Christian Church, as a laudable and 



THE REFORMERS. 



123 



Scriptural institution, centuries before the Reformer of 
Geneva was born. 

The character of Peter Martyr ^ a celebrated Pro- 
testant divine of Italy, whose high reputation induced 
Edward VL, to invite him to England, where he was 
made Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and Canon of 
Christ Church, speaks of Ruling Elders in the follow- 
ing decisive terms: " The Church" (speaking of the 
Primitive Church) "had its Elders, or, if I may so 
speak, its Senate, who consulted about things which 
w^ere for edification for the time being. Paid describes 
this kind of ministry ; not only in the 12th chapter of 
the Epistles to the Romans, but also in the first Epistle 
to Timothy, where he thus writes -—Let the Elders 
that rule well, he counted worthy of double honor^ 
especially those that labor in the word and doctrine. 
Which words appear to me to signify, that there were 
then some Elders who taught and preached the word 
of God, and another class of Elders who did not teach^ 
but only ruled in the Church. Concerning these, Am- 
brose speaks, when be expounds this passage in 
Timothy. Nay, he inquires whether it was owing to 
the pride or the sloth of the sacerdotal order that they 
had then almost ceased in the Church."* 

The celebrated John A Lasco, a devoted and 
eminently useful Reformer, is also a decisive witness on 
the same side. A Lasco was a Polish nobleman, of 
excellent education, and great learning. He Avas offer- 
ed two Bishoprics, one in Poland, and another in 
Hungary: but he forsook his native country, and all 
the secular and ecclesiastical honors v/hich awaited 
him, from love to the reformed reUgion. In his youth 



* Po> J\Iartyris Loci Communes. Class, iv. Cap. I. Sect. 2. 



124 



TESTIMONY OF 



he enjoyed the special friendship of ErasTrms^ who 
speaks of him in one of his letters^ {Erasmi Epist. Lib, 
28. Ep. 3,) as a man of uncommon excellence and 
worth. The Protestant Churches in the Low Coun- 
tries being scattered in consequence of the agitation 
produced by the celebrated ordinance, called the In- 
terim, published by Charles Y., A Lasco was invited 
to England, by King Edward VI., at the instance of 
Archbishop Cranmer. He accepted the invitation, and 
was chosen Superintendent* of the German, French 
and ItaUan congregations erected in London, which 
are said to have consisted, in the aggregate, of more 
than three thousand souls. He afterwards pubhshed 
an account of the form of government and worship 
adopted in those congregations. The affairs of each, it 
is distinctly stated in that account, were managed by a 
Pastor, Ruling Elders, and Deacons, and each of these 
classes of officers was considered as of divine appoint- 
ment. We also learn, from his statement, that the Ru- 
ling Elders and Deacons of these Churches, as well as 
the, Pastor s,v;fQYQ ordained hythe imposition of hands. 
He further informs us, that, in the administration of 
the Lord^s Supper, in the Churches under his superin 
tendency, the communicants sat at the table ; and he 
occupies a number of pages in showing that this posture 
ought to be preferred to kneeling. In short, he de- 
clares : — '-We have laid aside all the relics of Popery, 

* It is worthy of ootice here that although a Superintendent 
Was regarded by A Lasco as one who had the inspection of 
several congregations ; yet " he was greater than his brethren 
only in respect of his greater trouble and care, not having more 
authority than the other Elders, either as to the Ministry of the 
word and sacraments, or as to the exercise of ecclesiastical dis- 
i-ipline, to which he was subject equally with the rest." 



THE REFORMERS, 



125 



with its mummeries, and we have studied the greatest 
possible simphcity in ceremonies." 

Notwithstanding the pubUcation of these sentiments, 
and the estabhshment of these practices, marking so 
great a non-conformity with the Church of England^ 
A Lasco was highly esteemed, and warmly patronized, 
by Archbishop Cranmer, and also by the King, who 
granted him Letters Patent, constituting him and the 
other ministers of the foreign congregations, a body 
corporate, and giving them important privileges and 
powers. These letters may be seen among the Original 
Records subjoined to Bu?'?iefs History of the Refor- 
mation^ ii, 202. The following remarks by A Lasco 
himself, will serve at once to explain the design of the 
King in granting his royal sanction to these people, and 
also his own view of the principles upon which he and 
his brethren acted in founding the Churches in ques- 
tion. 

" When I w^as called by the king, and when certain 
laws of the countiy stood in the way, so that the public 
rites of divine worship used under the Papacy could not 
be immediately pui-ged out, (w^hieh the king himself 
greatly desired,) and when I was anxious and earnest in 
my solicitations for the foreign Churches, it was, at 
length, his pleasure, that the public rites of the English 
Churches should be reformed by degrees, as far as could 
be accomplished by the laws of the country ; but that 
strangers^ who were not strictly arid to the same extent 
bound by these laws, should have Churches granted to 
them, in which they should fieely regulate all things^ 

WHOLLY ACCORDING TO APOSTOLICAL BOCTRINE 

AND PRACTICE, without any, regard to the rites of the 
country ; that by this means the English Churches 
l2 



i26 



TESTIMONY OF 



also might he excited to embrace apostolical pimtij\ 
by the unanimous consent of all the estates of the king- 
dom. Of this project, the king^ himself^ from his great 
piety, was both the chief author and the defender. For 
although it was almost universally acceptable to the 
King's Council, and the Archbishop of Canterhury pro- 
moted it with all his might, there were not wanting some^ 
who took it ill, and would have opposed it, had not his 
majesty checked them by his authority, and by the rea- 
sons which he adduced in favor of the design.'' Again, 
in the Appendix to the same book, p. 649, he says:-- 
" The care of our Church was committed to us chiefly 
with this view, that in the ministration thereof we should 
follow the rules of the Divine Word, and apostolical 
observance, rather than emp rites of .other Churches. 
In fine, we were admonished, both by the king himself, 
and his chief nobility, to use this great liberty granted to 
us in our ministry, rightly and faithfully ; not to please 
men, but for the glory of God, by proinoting the refor- 
mation of his worsliip."* 

On the whole, we have in this case a witness as un 
exceptionable and weighty as can well be desired. A 
man of eminent learning, piety and devotedness. A man 
formed, not in the school of Calviny but of Zuingle. 
A man who, when the transactions and publications 
above alluded to, occurred, lived in England, where 
Ruhng Elders were unknown : and who, yet, in these 
circumstances, declared himself in favor of this class of 

* See M'Crie's Life of Knox, Vol. i. p. 392—396. See 

also, GisBERTi VoETii PolUicce Ecclesiasticcp,. Tom. i. 420 = 

422. See also, Forma et Ratio totius Ecclesiastici Minislerii 
Edvardi sexti in Peregrinormn, maxime Germanorum, Ec-^ 
cles. Also, De Ordinatione Ecdesiarum Peregrinamm in 
Snglia. EpisL Dedicat, et p. 649, 



THE REFORMERS'. 



121 



officers, as of Divine appointment^ and as important 
to the purity and edification of the Church. 

But there is a still more conclusive fact in reference 
to this stage of the Reformation in England. A Lasco^ 
it will be observed, asserts, that both king Edward^ 
and Archbishop Cranmer were strongly favorable to 
the plan of discipline which he and others had introduced 
into the Churches of Foreign Protestants in England. 
In confirmation of this statement, there is evidence that 
Cranmer^ and the rest of the Commissioners, in Ed- 
ward^ s reign, did directly propose the introduction of 
Ruling Elders into the national Church. They drew 
up a body of laws, which, though not finally ratified, 
partly on account of opposing influence, and partly from 
the premature decease of the monarch; yet clearly show 
the opinion and wishes of Cranmer and his associates. 
One of the proposed laws is as follows : — "After evening 
prayers, on which all shall attend in theii* own parish 
Churches, the principal Minister or Parson, and the 
Deacon, if they are present : or, in case of their absence, 
the Curate and the Elders^ shall consider how the money 
given for pious uses had best be laid out ; and then let 
discipline be exercised. For those whose sin has been 
public, and given offence to the whole Church, should 
be brought to a sense of it, and publicly undergo the 
punishment of it, that so the Church may be the better 
for theii' correction. After that the minister shall with- 
draw, with some of the Elders^ and consult how all 
other persons who are disorderly in their fife and 
conversajtion may be conversed with; first by some 
sober and good men in a brotherly manner, according 
to the direction of Christ in the Gospel ; and if they 
hearken to theii- advice, God is to be praised for it; but if 
they go on in their wickedness^ they are to be restrained 



m 



TESTIMONY OF 



by that severe punishment; which is in the Gospel 
prescribed for such obstinacy."* 

The testimony of Calvin will next be introduced. 
As he is charg^ed with being the inventor of this class 
of officers, the weight of his opinion as a witness in its 
favor, will probably be deemed small by its opposers. 
But there is one point of view in which his testimony 
will surely be regarded with deep respect, and, may I 
not add, as decisive? That he was a man of mature 
and profound learning, no one can doubt. Joseph 
Scaliger, himself a prodigy of erudition, pronounced 
him to have been the most learned man in Europe in 
his day; and, particularly, "that no man understood 
ecclesiastical history so welV Now, it is certain that 
Calvin did not consider the office of Ruling Elder a& 
originating with himself; but that he regarded it as 
an apostolical institution; that he refers to Seripture 
for its support; and that he quotes Ambrose, (whose 
testimony has been so often refeiTed to,) as an unques- 
tionable witness for the existence of the office under 
consideration in the primitive Church. The following 
extracts from his Commentary and his Institutions, wiil 
fully establish what is here* asserted. 

In his exposition of 1 Tim. v. 17, he speaks thus: 
"From this passage we may gather that there were 
then two kinds of Presbyters, because they were not 
all ordained to the work of teaching. For the Words 
plainly mean, that some ruled ivell, to whom no part 
of the public instruction was committed. And verily 



* Peirce's Vindication of the Dissenters, p. 23. Baxter's ' 
Treatise of Episcopacy, part. ii. p. 112. Reformatio Legum 
Ecelesiasticarurn, ex author itate Regis, Hen. viii. et Edv. 
4to, 1640. 



B THE REFORMERS. 129 

there were chosen from among the people, grave and 
approved men, who, in common comicil, and joint au- 
thority with the Pastors, administered the discipline of 
the Church, and acted the part of censors for the cor^ 
rection of morals. This practice, Ambrose complains, 
had fallen into disuse, through the indolence, or 
rather the pride of the teaching Elders, who wished 
alone to be distinguished." 

In his Institutions, (Book iv. Chapter iii;,) he has 
the following passage, equally explicit. "In calling 
those who preside over Chui'ches by the appellations of 
" Bishops," Elders," and Pastors," without any dis- 
tinction, I have followed the usage of the Scriptures^ 
which apply all these terms to express the same mean- 
ing. For to all who discharge the ministry of the 
word, they give the title of Bishops." So wheii Paul 
enjoins Titus to " ordain Elders in every city," he im- 
mediately adds, "For a Bishop must be blameless.'^ 
So, in another place, he salutes more Bishops than one 
in one Church. And in the Acts of the Apostles, he 
is declared to have sent for the Elders of the Church 
of Ephesus, whom, in his addiess to them, he calls 
" Bishops." Here it must be observed, that we have 
enumerated only those offices which consist m the mi- 
nistry of the word ; nor does Paul mention any other 
in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, 
which we have quoted. But in the Epistle to the Ro- 
mans, and the first Epistle to the Corinthians, he enu- 
merates others, as " powers," " gifts of healing," " inter- 
pretation of tongues," "governments," "care of the 
poor." Those hmctions which are merely temporary, 
I omit, as foreign to our present subject. But there are 
two which perpetually remain, "governments," and 
the care of the poor." " Governors," I apprehend to 



130 



TESTIMONY OF 



have been persons of advanced years, selected from the 
people, to unite with the Bishops in giving admonitions, 
and exercising discipline. For no other interpretation 
can be given of that injunction, " He that ruleth, let 
him do it with diligence." For from the beginning, 
every Church has had its senate, or council, composed 
of pious, grave and holy men, who were invested with 
that jurisdiction, for the correction of Yices, of which we 
shall soon treat. Now, that this was not the regulation 
of a . single age, experience itself demonstrates. This 
office of government is necessaiy, therefore, in evei'y 
age." 

I ask, was Calvm honest, or dishonest, in these de- 
clarations? If he had invented and introduced the office 
himself, could he have been ignorant of the fact? And 
whether it were so or not, who may reasonably be con- 
sidered as best able to judge— himself, or those who 
live nearly three hundred years after him? And who 
would be most hkely to know whether it were of an- 
cient or modern origin;— the most learned man then, 
perhaps, in the world;— or men with not a tenth part 
of his erudition, at the present day? The truth is, these 
passages, considered in connexion with that quoted in a 
former chapter, in which he speaks of himself, in refe- 
rence to this office, as following the example of the 
pious Witnesses of the truth who preceded him;— prove, 
either, that Calvin did not consider himseif as the in- 
ventor of the office, but believed that it had been in the 
Church in all ages;— or that he was gratuitously and 
profligately regardless of the truth to a degree never 
laid to his charge. 

Nor is the testimony to the primitive existence of this 
class of officers, confined to those of the Reformers who 
were favorable to their continuance in the Church. 



THE REFORMERS. 



131 



Some, by no means friendly to their restoration, were 
yet constrained to acknowledge their early origin. 

That there were Ruling Elders in the primitive 
Church, is explicitly granted hj Archbishop Whitgift^ 
a warm and learned friend of diocesan Episcopacy. 

I know," says he, " that in the Primitive Church, 
they had in every Church certain /Seniors^ to whom 
the government of the Congregation was committed ; 
but that was before there was any Christian Prince or 
Magistrate that openly professed the Gospel ; and before 
there was any Church by pubHc authority established." 

And again: — Both the name and office of Seniors 
were extinguished before Ambrose^ s time, as he himself 
doth testify, writing upon the fifth of the first Epistle to 
Timothy. Indeed, as Ambrose saith, the Synagogue^ 
and afterwards the Churchy Ymdi >S'e?^^or5, without whose 
counsel nothing was done in the Church ; but that was 
before his time^ and before there was any Christian 
Magistrate, or any Church established."* The learned 
and acute Archbishop, it seems, was not only con- 
vinced that there were Ruling Elders^ distinct from 
Preaching Elde7^s, in the primitive Church, but with 
all his erudition and discernment, he understood Am- 
brose just as the friends of this class of officers now 
understand him. 

There is another testimony on this subject, from one 
of the most conspicious and active friends of the Re- 
formation in England^ which is worthy of particular 
notice. I refer to that of the Rev. Dean Nowell.) who 
flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth^ and whose 
celeb]-ated Catechism^ drawn up in 1562, obtained, 
perhaps, as much currency and respect as any pubUca- 



* Defence against Cartwright, p. 638. 651. 



132 



TESTIMONY OF 



tion of that period. Nor are we to consider it as ex- 
pressing the sentiments of the illustrious divine whose 
name it bears, alone ; for it was unanimously approved 
and sanctioned by the same lower house of Convocation 
which passed the 39 Articles of the Church of England^ 
and directed to be published and used as containing 
the true doctrine of that Church. In this Catechism, 
toward the close, when speaking of the evils of retaining 
unworthy members in the Church, the following ques 
tions and answers occur: — 

"Q.. What remedy for this evil can be devised and 
applied ?" 

"A. In Churches well constituted and governed, there 
was, as I before said, a certain plan and order of govern- 
ment appointed and observed. Elders were chosen, 
that is, ecclesiastical rulers, who conducted and jnain- 
tained the discipline of the Church. To these pertained 
authority, reproof and chastisement ; and they, with th& 
concurrence of the Pastor, if they knew any who, by 
false opinions, troublesome errors, foolish superstitions, or 
vicious and profligate lives, were likely to bring a great 
public scandal on the Church of God, and who could 
not approach the Lord's Supper without a manifest 
profanation, repelled them from the communion, and 
no more admitted them until, by pubhc penitence, they 
gave satisfaction to the Church." 

"Q,. What is to be done?" (when those who have 
been excluded from the Chui ch, repent, and desire to 
jbe restored to its communion.) 

^'A. That they may be received again into the 
Church, and to the enjoyment of its holy mysteries, 
from which they have been deservedly cast out, they 
ought humbly to supphcate and pray. And, on the 
whole, there ought to be such moderation used in ad~ 



THE REFORMERS. 



133 



ministering public penance, that neither by tod much 
severity the offender may be reduced to despondency ; 
nor by too much lenity, the discipline of the Church 
relaxed, its authority diminished, and others encouraged 
and incited to similar offences. But when, in the 
judgment of the Elders and of the Pastor^ proper 
satisfaction shall be made, by the chastisement of the 
offender, for an example to others, he may be admitted 
again to the communion of the Church."* 

Nothing can be more unequivocal or decisive than 
this testimony. In the opinion not only of the writer 
of the Catechism before us, but also of the leading 
clergy of the Church of England, who sanctioned it, 
and enjoined its general use, there ought to be, in every 
Church, besides the Pastor, a bench of Elders, or 
ecclesiastical Rulers, whose duty it should be to preside 
over the discipline, and, in conjunction with the Pastor, 
to receive, admonish, suspend, excommunicate, and re- 
Store members, — in a manner precisely agreeable to the 
well known practice of the Presbyterian Church. In 
truth, Dr. Nowell could scarely have expressed in more 
distinct and unqualified terms his approbation of this 
part of our system, than in telling uSj what, in his 
judgment, and that of his brethren, every well regulated 
Church ought to have. 

Ursinus, a learned German divine, contemporary 
with Luther and Melancthon, speaks a language still 
more to our purpose. Ministers, "says he, are either 
immediately called of God, or mediately, through the 
instrumentality of the church. Of the former class, 
were Prophets and Apostles. Of the latter class there 



* See Bishop Randolph's Enchiridion Theologicum- Vol. i. 
W, 327. Third Edition. 



134 



TESTIMONY OF 



are five kinds, viz: Evangelists^ Bishops or Pastors, 
Teachers^ Riding Elders, and Deacons. Evan- 
gelists are ministers appointed to go forth and preach 
the gospel to a number of Churches. Bishops, are 
ministers ordained to preach the word of God, and 
administer the sacraments, in particular Churches, 
Teachers are ministers appointed merely to fulfil the 
function of teaching in particular Churches. Ruling 
Elders are ministers elected by the voice of the Church, 
to assist in conducting discipline, and to order a variety 
of necessary matters in the Church. Deacons are 
ministers elected by the Church, to take care of the 
poor, and to distribute almsP* 

In the Confession of Saxony, drawn up by Me- 
tancthon, in 1551, and subscribed by a large number 
of Lutheran divines and Churches, we find this class 
of officers recpgnized, and represented as in use in those 
Churches. Speaking of the exercise of discipline, in 
its various branches, they say: — "That these things 
may be done orderly, there be also Consistories ap- 
pointed in our Churches^ Of these Cojisistories, a 
majority of the members, it is well known, were Ruling 
Elders. 

Szegeden, a very eminent Lutheran divine, of 
Hungary, contemporary with Luther, also speaks very 
decisively of the apostolic institution of Ruling Elders. 
The following passage is sufficient to exhibit his sen>- 
timents. "The ancient Church had Presbyters, or 
Elders, of which the Apostle speaks, 1 Corinth. 5. 4, 
And these Elders were of tivo kinds. One class of them 
preached the gospel, administered the sacraments, and 
governed the Church, the same as Bishops; for Bishops 



* Ursiiji Corpus Doctrine, Par. iii, p. 121^ 



THE REFORMERS. 



135 



and Prebyters are the same order. But another class 
of Elders consisted of grave and upright men, taken 
from among the lait^, who, together with the preach- 
ing Elders before mentioned, consulted respecting the 
affairs of the Church, and devoted their labor to ad- 
monishing, correcting, and taking care of the flock of 
Christ."* 

The Magdehurgh Centuriators^ who were eminent- 
ly learned Lutheran divines, contemporary with Me- 
lacnthoYiy and who have been regarded, for three hun- 
dred years, as among the highest authorities on questions 
of ecclesiastical history, speak in the following decisive 
terms with regard to the office in question. And 
although the extract has been given in a former page ; 
yet, as it is brief and pointed, it may not be improper 
to assign it a place in this connexion. Speaking of the 
third century, they say : — " The right of deciding re- 
specting such as were to be excommunicated, or of 
receiving, upon their repentance, such as had fallen, 
was vested in the Elders of the ChurchP^ 

The learned Francis Junius, a distinguished divine 
and Professor of Theology of the Church of Holland^ 
who lived at the commencement of the Reformation in 
that country, and was, of course, contemporary with 
Martyr, Bucer, Melancthon, &c., wrote very fully and 
explicitly in favor of the office of Ruling Elder. Iii 
his work entitled Ecclesiastici, he decisively, and with 
great learning, maintains, that Pastors, Ruling Elders 
and Deacons, are the only three scriptural orders of 
Church Officers; that Pastors, or ministers of the 



* SzEGEDEM Loci Communes, p. 197. Edit* quint. folio- 
Basil, 1608. 

t Cent, iii. cap* vii, p. 131, 



136 



TESTIMONY OF 



word and sacraments, are the highest order, and, of 
course, are invested with the power of ordaining ; that 
the second class, are men of distinguished piety and 
prudence, chosen from among the members of the 
Church, to assist the Pastor in the government of the 
Church ; and that the Deacons are appointed to collect 
and distribute the alms of the Church. He affirms 
that these three orders are set forth in Scripture, and 
existed in the primitive Church : and that the disuse 
of Ruling Elders, as well as the introduction of Prelacy, 
is a departure from the primitive model* 

The Protestant Churches of Hungary and Tran- 
sylvania, although, in organizing their Churches, they 
did not actually adopt and introduce the office of Ruling 
Elder; yet in the Preface, and other statements^ 
pubhshed with their ecclesiastical Formularies, they 
spoke, in the most unequivocal terms, both of the value^ 
and the early origin of this class of officers. The 
following extract may be considered as a fair specimen 
of their testimony on this subject. " Most other nations^ 
belonging to the Evangelical Confession, have been in 
the habit of choosing and constituting Elders, in every 
village and city, agreeably to the practice of the Old 
Church, and afeo of the Neio Testament: men sound 
in the faith, blameless, the husbands of one wife, having 
faithful children, chargeable with no crime, grave, 
prudent, &c. — It is made the official duty of these men 
diligently to watch over the lives and conversation of 
all the members of the Church, to rebuke the dissolute, 
and, if need be, to refer their cases to the Pastors and 
to the whole Eldership, (fee." Here they make a clear 



* Ecclesiastic^ sive de nat. et administraL Ecclesioe Sfc. Lib-- 
il Cap. 2, 3, 4. 



THE REFORMERS. 



137 



distinction between these Elders and the Pastors, of 
the Churches, and represent the former as assistants 
to the latter in the spiritual concerns of the Church. 
They then proceed to state why a class of officers, so 
useful, in most cases so necessary, and which they also 
considered as having existed in the apostolic Church, 
was not received among them.* 

The character of Jerome Zanchius, a learned divine 
of Itali/, of the sixteenth century, who greatly distin- 
guished himself among the Reformers, is so well known, 
that a detailed account of his great accomphshments 
and reputation is unnecessary. On the subject before 
us, he speaks thus : — " The whole ministry of the Chris- 
tian Church, may be divided into three classes. The 
first consists of those who dispense the word and sacra- 
ments, correspoftding with those who, under the Old 
Testament, were called Priests and Levites; and under 
the New Testament, Apostles, Pastors, and Teachers. 
The second consists of those whose peculiar office it is 
to take care of the discipline of the Church, to inspect 
the lives and conversation of all, and to take care that 
all live in a manner becoming Christians ; and also, h 
at any time there should be a necessity for it, in the 
absence of the Pastor, to instruct the people. There 
were such, under the Old Testament, in the Synagogue; 
and such also were the Senators who were added to the 
Bishop, in the administration of the New Testament 
Church. These officers are styled Presbyters, {Pres- 
hyteri,) and Elders, {Senior es,) of which the Apostle 
speaks, besides other places, in 1 Timothy v. 17; Let 
the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double 
honor, especially those who labor in the word and 



* See G. VoETii Polit. Eccles. Par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii. 
m2 



138 



TESTIMONY OF 



doctrifie. In this passage the Apostle manifestly speaks 
of two sorts or classes of Elders, as he was understood 
by Ambrose and others, among the ancients, and by 
almost all our modern Protestant Divines, as Bullinger^ 
Peter Martyr^ &c., &c.* 

The most cursory reader of this extract will not fail 
to take notice, not only that Zanchius evidently ap- 
proved of this office, but that he thought it of Divine 
appointment; that he interpreted as we do the famous 
passage in Ambrose, which the opposers of Ruling 
Elders have expended so much ingenuity in laboring to 
explain away ; and that he considered almost all 
THE Reformed Divines as being of the same opi- 
nion with himself, 

^ The high reputation of Par mis, a learned and pious 
German divine, contemporary with Melanchton and 
Zanchius, is also well known. His testimony respecting 
the office under consideration is very explicit. In his- 
Commentary on Romans xii, 8, he observes Here 
the Apostle understands the function of that class of 
Elders, who, united with the Pastors, watch over and 
correct the morals and discipline of the Church. For 
there were two classes of Elders, as may be gathered 
from 1 Timothy v. 17. Some who labored in the 
word and doctrine, who were to be accounted worthy 
of double honor; such as Teachers, Pastors, or 
Bishops; the others, such as labored in conducting 
discipline, who are here called governmentsP And 
in his Commentary on ICorinthians xii. 28, he says.: 
The Apostle here, undoubtedly, speaks of the Elders 
who presided in the administration of discipline. For 



* Zanchii Opera. Tom. iv. In Quartum 
p. 727. 



THE REFORMERS. 



139 



\he 'primitive Church had lis Senate^ who attended to 
the morals of the con^^egation, while the Apostles and 
Teachers were left at leisure to preach. This the 
Apostle indicates very clearly in the first Epistle to 
Timothy v. 17, where two classes of Presbyters are 
represented as constituted. The governments here 
spoken of were not Princes or Praetors, armed with the 
sioord, but grave, experienced men, exercising authority 
over others, chosen out of the Church, by the consent of 
the Church, to assist the Pastors in conducting disciphne, 
and to alleviate theii" burdens." 

The celebrated Piscator, who held a distinguished 
place among the divines who adorned Germany, and 
maintained the Protestant cause, in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, is equally decisive, as an advocate of the office 
under consideration. In his Commentary on 1 Tim. 
V. 17, he says: — "The Apostle distributes Elders into 
tioo classes — those who presided in maintaining eccle- 
siastical discipine, but did not pubhcly teach; and those 
who both taught, and co-operated in ruling, and were 
therefore worthy of greater honor, and a more liberal 
support than the others." 

Few ministers of the Church oi England, during the 
reign of Q,ueen Elizabeth, were more distinguished for 
talents, learning and piety, than Thomas Cartwright, 
Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, 
the opponent of the high prelatical claims of Archbishop 
Whitgift, and concerning whom the celebrated Beza 
pronounced, that he thought "the sun did not shine 
upon a more learned man." Tliis eminent divine, 
commenting on Matthew xviii. 17, Tell it unto the 
Church, (fee, thus remarks : — " Theophylact upon 
this place, interpreteth. Tell the Church, that is many, 
because that assembly taketh knowledge of this and 



140 



TESTIMONY OP 



Other things, hy their mouths^ that is, their governors. 
Chrysostom also saith, that to tell the Chui ch is to tell 
the governors thereof. It is, therefore, to be understood, 
that these governors of the Church, which were set 
over every several assembly, in the time of the law, were 
oi two sorts; for some had the handhng of the word: 
some other watching against the offences of the Church, 
did, by common council with the ministers of the word, 
take order against the same. Thos^ governing Elders 
are divers times in the story of the gospel made mention 
of, under the title of " Rulers of the Synagogue j'' 
And this manner of government, because it was to he 
translated into the Church of Christ, under the 
gospel, our Saviour, by the order at that time used 
among the Jews, declareth what after should he done 
in his Church. Agreeably hereunto the Apostle both 
declared the Lord's ordinance in this behalf, and put the 
same in practice, in ordaining to every several Chm'ch; 
beside the ministry of the word, certai7i of the 
cJiiefest men which should assist the work of the 
Lord's building. This was also faithfully practised of 
the Churches after the Apostle's times, as long as they 
remained in any good and allowable soundness of doc- 
trine. And being fallen from the Churches, especially 
from certain of them, the want thereof is sharply and 
bitterly cast in the teeth of the Church's teachers,-^ 
by whose ambition that came to pass."* And as proof 
of this, the author quotes in the margin that very pas- 
sage of Ambrose, cited in a preceeding section, and 
which has always given so much trouble to Prelatists 
and Independents. 



* Cartwright's Commentary on the New Testament— 
Against the Rhemists. 



THE REFORMERS. 



141 



The same writer, in his Second Reply to Whit gift, 
speaking of the class of Elders under consideration^ 
expresses himself thus— "For proof of these Church 
Elders, which, being occupied in the government, had 
nothing to do with the Word, the testimony of Am- 
brose is so clear and open, that he which doth not give 
place unto it, must needs be thought as a bat, or an 
owl, or some other night-bird, to delight in darkness. 
His saying is, that the Elders fell away by the ambi- 
tion of the Doctors; whereby opposing the Elders to 
Doctors, which taught, he plainly declareth, that they 
had not to do with the Word : whereupon it is mani- 
fest that it was the use, in the best reformed Churches^ 
certain hundred years after the times of the Apostles, to 
have an Eldership which meddled not with the word^ 
nor administration of sacraments.* 

The testimony of the Rev. Richard Greenham, a 
divine of the Church of England, who flourished in 
the reign of dueen Elizabeth, and who was greatly 
revered both for his learning and piety, is very une- 
quivocal and pointed on this subject. It is in these 
words:—" The Apostle St. Paul, doth notably amplify 
the honor due to the true and faithful minister. The 
Elders that rule well, (saith he,) let them be had in 
double honor, specially they which labor in the word 
and doctrine; 1 Timothy v. 17. As if he should say^ 
let those Elders which are appointed to watch and look 
to the manners and behaviour of the children of God^ 
if they execute this charge faithfully, be had in double 
honor; but, above all, let the faithful ministers, such as 
labor in the word, be honored: for why? the other are 
overseers of your outward behaviour, but these have 



* Second Reply. Part Second, p. 44. 4to. 1577, 



142 



TESTIMONY OP 



another manner of office; they watch over your souls, 
which tendeth to the salvation both of body and soul.'' 
And again:—" The rulers of the Church are called the 
Church, to whom discipline appeitaineth. Not the 
whole company of the Jews, but the Riders of the Sy- 
nagogue, are called the Church of the Jews * 

The celebrated Estius, the learned Popish expositor 
and Professor at Douay^ in his Commentary on 1 2\m, 
V. 17, delivers the follo^ving opinion :—" From this pas- 
sage it may manifestly be gathered that, in the time of 
the Apostles, there were certain Presbyters in the 
Church who ruled well, and were worthy of double 
honor, and who yet did not labor in the word and doc- 
trine; neither do the heretics of the present day (mean- 
ing the Protestants) deny this." And, in speaking of 
the establishment of this class of Elders in Geneva, 
about half a century before he wi'ote, he seems only to 
blame Calvin for considering and styling them lay- 
men. He expresses a decisive opinion, that the Elders 
spoken of by Paul, in this place, were ecclesiastical 
men, set apart by ecclesiastical rites, and devoted to ec- 
clesiastical duties; but that they still did not preach. 
And he explicitly acknowledges that Ambrose, in the 
fourth century, speaks of such Elders as having existed 
long before his day. It is also worthy of remark, that 
the same learned Romanist, in another work, not only 
avows, in the most distinct manner, his belief in the 
apostolic appointment of non-preaching Elders, and 
quotes 1 Tim. v. 17, in support of his opinion; but he 
also refers to Jerome and Augustine, sls witnesses to 
the same fact.t 

The o pinion of the learned Professor TVhitaker, a 

* Works, p. 352. 842. fol. 1612. 

t EsTii Sententiarum Commentaria. Lib. iv. Par. 2. Sect. 21. 



THE REFORMERS. 



143 



divine of the Church of England, who flourished in the 
reign of Glueen Elizabeth, as to the true meaning of 
1 Timothy V. 17, was given, at length, in a prece- 
ding page. The same distinguished divine, in writing 
against Dury, expresses liimself thus, concerning the 
office under consideration. " Art thou so ignorant as 
not to know that in the Church of Christ there ought 
to be Elders who should devote themselves to the work 
of goverrunent alone, and not to the administration of the 
loord or sacraments, as we are taught in 1 Tim. v. 17?"* 

To these testimonies might be added many more, 
from learned men of the same distinguished character 
with those already mentioned, and to the same effect. 
Chemnitius, of Germany; Salmasiiis, of Holland; 
Marloratus, and Dancevs, of France; Hemmingius, 
of Denmark,^ — with a long list of similar names, 
might all be cited as warm advocates of the class of 
Elders under consideration, and ahnost all of them 
decisive advocates of its divine authority. 

Nor are these individual suffrages, though numerous 
and unequivocal, all that can be alleged in favor of our 
cause. The great body of the Protestant Churches, 
when they came to organize their several systems in a 
^state of separation from the Papacy, and from each 
other, differing, as they did, in many other respects, 
were almost unanimous in adopting and maintaining 
the office of Ruling Elder. Instead of this office being 
confined, as many appear to suppose, to the ecclesiasti- 
cal estabhshments of Geneva and Scotland, it was 
generally introduced, with the Reformation, by Lit^ 



* Confrrt DwrccMW, Lib. ix. p. 807. 

f See these writers, as well as a number of others, referred 
Co in the Politiccs Ecclesiastics of Voetim. J*ar. ii. Lib. ii.^ 
•iTract. iii' 



144 



TESTIMONY OF 



therans as well as Calvinists; and is generally retained 
to the present day, in almost all the Protestant Churches, 
excepting that of England. Those of France^ Ger- 
many^ Holland^ Switzerland^ &C.5 received this class 
of Elders early, and expressly represented them in their 
public Confessions, founded on the word of God. 
It is probably safe to afiii-m, that, at the period of the 
Reformation, more than three-fourths of the whole 
Protestant world declared in favor of this office, not 
merely as expedient, hut aswarr anted by Scripture, and 
as necessary to the order and edification of the Church. 

Does all this, it may be confidently asked, look hke 
the office in question being a mere Genevan innovation? 
How shall we reconcile with tliis extraordinary position, 
the undoubted fact, that Lutherans and Reformed, in 
every part of Europe; those who never saw Calvin, 
as well as those who were within the sphere of his ac- 
quaintance and influence ; nay, some of those who died 
before the illustrious Reformer of Geneva ever appeared 
at all, either as a writer or preacher; — are found among 
the decisive, zealous advocates of the office in question, 
and quoting, as of conclusive authority, in its favor, the 
principal passages of Scripture, and the principal Father, 
reUed on by Presbyterians to establish its Apostohcal 
, warrant, and its actual existence in the eariy ages of the 
ancient Church? Truly, it is difficult to conceive how 
any one, who seriously and impartially weighs these facts, 
can resist the impression, that an Institution, in behalf 
of which so many eminently learned and pious men, 
of different and distant countries, without concert with 
each other, and without any common interest to serve^ 
in reference to this matter, have so remarkably concurred 
in opinion, must have some solid foundation, both iii 
the inspired volume^ and in the natme and necessities 
t)f the Church. 



CHAPTER VII* 



TESTIMONY OF EMINENT DIVINES SINCE THE 
TIME OF THE REFORMERS. 

While we justly attach so much importance to the 
persons and services of the Reformers, and recur with 
the deepest reverence to their opinions, we owe scarcely 
less respect to the judgment of a number of other men. 
who have lived since their time, and of whom the 
world was not worth]/. Men whose testimony can 
never be quoted but with veneration, and whose charac- 
ters give an ample pledge of research at once profound 
and honest. To the decision of a few of these illustrious 
men on the subject before us, the attention of thereadei 
is respectfully requested. 

The decisive opinion of Dr. Oioen, undoubtedly one 
of the greatest divines that ever adorned the British 
nation, in favor of the scriptural warrant of the office 
of Ruhng Elder, was given in a preceding section, and 
need not now be repeated. I may, however, add, that 
the more weight ought to be attached to this opinion 
on account of Dr. Owen^s ecclesiastical connexions, 
which, as is well knoAvn, were by no means adapted to 
give him a bias on the side of Presbyterian order. 

The venerable and eminently pious Richard Bax 
ter^ was no Presbyterian. Yet he expresses himself in 
the following very unequivocal language, on the subject 

N 



146 



TESTIMONY OF 



under consideration. When 1 plead, that the order of 
subject Presbyters^ (or lay-Elders^) was not instituted 
in scripture times, and consequently that it is not of 
divine institution, I mean, that, as a distinct office^ or 
species of Church ministers, it is not a divine institution, 
nor, a lawful institution of man ; but that, among men 
in the same office, some might, prudentially^ be chosen 
to an eminency of degree, as to the exercise; and that 
according to the difference of their advantages, there 
might be a disparity in the use of their authority and 
gifts, I think was done in scripture timiCs, and might 
have been after, if it had not then. And my judgment 
is, that, ordinarily^ every particular Church (such as 
our parish Churches are) had more Elders than one, 
but not such store of men of eminent gifts, as that all 
these Elders could be such. But as if half a dozen of 
the most judicious persons of this parish were ordained 
to be Elders, of the same office with myself; but because 
they are not equally fit for pubhc preaching, should most 
employ themselves uithe rest of the oversight, consenting 
that the pubhc preaching he most upon me, and that I 
be the moderator of them, for order in circumstantials. 
This, I think, was the true Episcopacy and Presby- 
tery of the first times J''* 

Although it may be doubted whether this venerable 
man be correct in his whole view of this subject ; yet it 
will be observed by every attentive reader, that in main- 
taining the existence of a plurality of Elders in each 
Church, in primitive times, and that a great part of these 
Elders were not, in fact, employed in preaching, but 
in inspecting and r^^^m^, he concedes every thing that 



'^Disputations of Church government. — Advertisement, p 
4. 5, 4to. 1659. 



LATER DIVINES. 



147 



can be deemed essential in relation to the office which 

we are considering. r n 7 

The Puritan Congregationalists, of England, 
about the year 1605, in the Summary of their Faith and 
Order, entided, English Puritanism, drawn up by 
the venerable Mr. Bradshaw, translated into Latin, for 
the benefit of the foreign Protestants, by the learned Dr. 
Ames, and intended to express the sense of the general 
body of the Puritans, speak thus on the subject of 
Ruling Elders. 

"Since even in the best constituted Churches, they 
know that not a few enormous offences will arise, which, 
if not timely met, will do injury both to those who 
beheve, and those who are inquiring; while, at the 
same time, they see that the authority of a single person, 
in a parish, resembling the Papal, is contrary to the will 
of Christ: they think', as the case itself requires, and as 
appointed of (jro.d, that uihem also should be selected 
from the. Church, as officers, who may be associated 
ivith the ministers in the spiritual governmentP 

"These are inspector -, sirmixy\Ta'.^ a kind of censors, 
whose duty it is, together with the ministers of the 
word, as well to umtch over the conduct of all the 
brethren, as to judge between them. . And they think 
that this office is instituted, that each may take the 
more heed to hhnself and his ways, while the ministers 
enjoy more leisure for study and devotion, and obtain, 
through the assistance of their co-adjutors, a more 
accurate view of the state of the flock ; since it is the 
peculiar duty of the inspectors to be always watchful 
over the manners and conduct of all the members of 
the Church." 

" To this office they think that none should be pre- 
ferred, but men very eminent for gravity and prudence. 



148 



TESTIMONY OF 



established in the faith; of tried integrity; whose sanctity 
of Hfe and upright example are well known to the 
whole society." 

"In the choice of these Elders, respect should always 
be had to theii' outward cuxumstances. They should 
be able to support themselves in some respectable 
manner; though it will not be an objection to them 
that they pursue some mechanical art, provided they 
be morally quahfied."* 

Nor were these venerable men the only Independents 
who declared, in the most decisive manner, in favor of 
this class of officers. The celebrated Dr. Thomas 
Goodioin, one of the Westminster Assembly of divines, 
and who is styled by Anthony A Wood, sl very 
'■Atlas and Patriarch of Independency," is well known 
to have been one of the most learned and influential In- 
dependents of the seventeenth century, and one of the 
most voluminous and instructive writers of his class. 
In his " Church Order Explained, in a way of 
Catechism,'' the following passage occurs: — ''What 
sort of Bishops hath God set in his Church?" Ansicer^ 
Two; some Pastors and Teachers; some Ruling 
Elders, under two heads; some labor in word and 
doctrine, and of those, some are Pastors, some Teachers ; 
others rule only, and labor not in the word and 
doctrine."— Again; what is the office and work of the 
Riding Elder J Answer, seeing the kingdom of God 
is not of this world, but heavenly and spiritual, and the 
government of his kingdom is not lordly, but steijoardly 
and minister al; and to labor in the ministry of exhorta- 
tion and doctrine is the proper work of the Pastors and 
Teachers; it remameth, therefore, to be the office and 



^ Neal's History of the Puritans, VoL i. p. 449. 4to. Edit, 



LATER DIVINES. 



149 



work of the Ruling Elders to assist the Pastors and 
Teachers in dili rent attendance to all other aids^ rule 
besides exhortation and doctrine, as becometh good 
stewards of the household of God. As, first, to open 
and shut the doors of God's house, by admission of 
members, by ordination of officers, by excommunication 
of notorious and obstinate offenders. Secondly, to see 
that none live in the church inordinately, without a 
caUing, or idle in their calling. Thirdly, to prevent 
and heal offences, whether in life or doctrine, that might 
corrupt their own ^ hurch, or other T hurches. Fourthly^ 
to prepare matters for the Church's consideration, 
and to moderate the carriage of all matters in the 
Church assemblies. Finally, to feed the flock of God, 
by a word of admonition, and, as they shall be called, 
to visit and pray with their sick brethren. The ground 
of all this is laid down in Roman i, 12. 8. where the 
Apostle, besides him who exhorteth and teacheth, 
maketh mention of another officer, who ruleth with 
diligence, and is distinct from the Pastors and Teachers, 
and that is the sum of his work, to rule tnith diligence. 
Thus you see the whole duty of these Ruling Elders, 
and how they are to assist the Pastoi-s and Teachers 
in all other acts of rule besi ies word, and doctrine. 
Use 1. From hence observethe rreat bounty of God unto 
Pastors and Teachers, tliat God h.ith not left them 
alone in the Church, as Marsha c .mplains to Christ 
that Mary had left her alone to .^erve : the ministers of 
the Church have no such cause fo complain: for, as he 
gave the Levites to the Prie-^ts, to help them in their 
service, so hath he ^iven Ruline Elders to such as 
labor in the word and doctrine, that thev might have 
assistance from them in ruling the ^Imrch of God. 
Use 2. It may serve to answer a cavil that some have 



150 



TESTIMONY OP 



against this office, who say, that, if God hath given 
these officers to the Church, he would then have set 
down the limits of these officers, and not have sent them 
forth with iUimited power. To which it is answered, 
that their power is strongly limited, as a stewardly 
or ministerial power and office. It is the power of the 
keys, which Christ hath expressed in his word, and it 
consisteth in those things that have been spoken of 
God's house, to open and shut the doors of God's house, 
by admission of members, &c. This is such a rule as 
is no sman help to the spirits and hearts of those who 
labor in doctrme ; and no smaU help it is also to the 
whole Church of God; and when they are wanting, 
many evilswdU grow, and those without the possibility of 
redressandamendment, much idleness, much confusion, 
many offences. Though other ministers have been in 
the Church, we may see how much, in the want of 
these officers, the Churches have been cormpted."* 

The character of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of 
the most learned and pious Fathers of New-England, 
and a distinguished advocate of Independency, is too 
well known to requii-e remark. In his work, entitled 
" A Survey of Church Discipline," &c., he speaks thus 
of the office under consideration :— " We begin with the 
Rttliyig Elders place, for that carries a kind of sim- 
phcity with it. There be more ingredients required to 
make up the office of Pastor and Doctor, and therefore 
we shall take leave to trade in the first, quo simplicius 
ac prius. That there is such an office and officer ap- 
pointed by Christ, as the Scriptures are plain to him. 
whose spir it and apprehension is not possessed and fore ' 

^Church Order Explained. &c.. page 16. 19 22. to be found 
m the 4th Vol. of his Works, four vols. fol. London, 1697. 



LATER DIVINES. 



151 



stalled with prejudice. The first argument we have 
from Romans 12. 7, which gives in witness to this 
truth, where all these officers are numbered and named 
expressly. The second argument is taken from ICor. 
12. 28. The scope of the place, and the Apostle's in- 
tendment is, to lay open the several offices and officers 
that the Lord hath set in his Church, and so many 
chief members, out of which the Church is constituted 
as an entire body." And, after maidng some other 
remarks for the right discovery of the Apostle's proceed- 
ing and pm-pose, he adds : — " From which premises, 
the dispute issues thus. As Aposdes, Prophets and 
Teachers are distinct, so are Helps and Governments 
distinct : for the Spirit puts them in the same ranks, as 
having a parity of reason which appertains to them all. 
But they were distinct offices, and found in persons as dis- 
tinct officers, as verse 30— A/'e all Apostles? Are all 
Teachers ? Therefore, 4he same is true of Governors. 
A third argument is taken from that famous place ^ 
1 Timothy v. 17, which is full to our pmpose in hand, 
and intended by the Holy Spirit of the Lord, to make 
evident the station and office of Ruling Elders, unto 
the end of the world."* 

The praise of the Rev. Joh7i Cotton, one of the most 
distinguished of the first ministers of New-England, 
was in all the Churches, in his time. In a small work, 
entitled, " (Questions and A nswers on Church Govern- 
ment, begun 25th Nov. 1634," the following passages 
occur. Quest. "What sorts of ministers or officers 
hath God set in his Church? Answer. The ministers 
and officers of the Church are some of them ei^tra- 
ordinary, as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists ; some 



* Survey, &c.j partii. p. 6. 8. 10. 11. 4to, London, 1648, 



152 



TESTIMONY OP 



ordinary^ as Bishops and Deacons. Quest. What 
sorts of Bishops hath God ordained in his Church ? 
Ansioer. There are three sorts of them, according as 
there be three sorts of Elders in the Church, though 
under two heads ; some Pastors, some Teachers, some 
RuUng Elders. That is to say, such Elders as labor in 
the word and doctrine, and such as rule in the Church 
of God ; 1 Tim. i. 13 ; 1 Cor. 12. 28 ; Rom. 12. 7, 8 ; 
1 Tim. 5. 17. Quest, mat is the work of a Ruling 
Elder? Answer. Seeing the kingdom of Christ is not 
of this world, but heavenly and spiritual ; and the go- 
vernment of his kingdom is not lordly, but stewardly 
and ministerial ; and to labor in the administration of 
exhortation and docti'ine is the proper work of Pastor 
and Teacher— it remains to be the office of the Ruling 
Elder to assist the Pastor and Teacher in all other acts 
of rule besides, as becomes good stewards of the house- 
hold of. God. And, therefc^e, to put instances, as, 
First, To open and shut the doors of God's house, by 
athifiission of members, by ordination of officers, by 
excommunication of notorious and obstinate offenders. 
Secondly, To see that none live in the Church in^ 
ordinately, without a calling, or idly in their calling. 
Thirdly, To prevent or heal offences. Fourthly, To 
prepare matters for the ^^luch's consideration, and to 
moderate the carriage of all things in the Church assem- 
bhes. Fifthly, To feed the flock of God with the 
word of admonition, and, as they shall be called, to visit 
and pray over their sick bretiii-en."* 

The venerable John Davenport, it is well known. 



* A Treatise, 1. Qt Faith 2 Twelve Fundamental Arti- 
cles of Christian Religion. 3. A Doctrinal Conclusion. 4. 
Qnestions and Answers on Church Government.~p. 20, 2L 



LATER DIVINES. 



153 



held a distinguished place among the early lights of the 
Massachusetts and Connecticut Chinches. In a trea- 
tice entitled " The Power of Congregational Churches 
asserted and vindicated, &c.," although his plan did not 
require, or even admit, that he should treat expressly 
and at length on the officers of the Church ; yet he 
repeatedly, and in the most unequivocal manner alludes 
to the office of Ruling Elder, as belonging to the Church 
by divine appointment ; as altogether distinct from the 
office of both Teaching Elder and Deacon ; and asbemg 
of indispensable importance to the edification of the 
Church * 

Nor are these the sentiments of detached individuals 
merely. They were adopted and published, about the 
same time, by public bodies, in the most solemn manner. 
In a work entitled, " Church Government, and Church 
Covenant discnssed^ in an answer of the Elders of the 
several Churches of New-England, to two and thirty 
questions sent over to them by divers ministers in 
EnglandyXo declare their judgment thereon:" In this 
treatise, Rahng Elders are spoken of, as of divine in- 
stitution, and as actually existins?-, at the time, in the 
Churches of New-England. The fifteenth question 
jg : — "Whether do you give the exercise of all Church 
power of government, to the whole Church, or to the 
Presbyters thereof alone ?" To which it is answered :— 
'•We do believe that Christ hath ordained that there 
should be a Presbytery or Eldership ; 1 Tim. 4. 14 ; 
and that in every Church, Titus i. 5 ; Acts 14. 28 ; 
1 Cor. xi. 28, whose work is to teach and rule the 
Church by the word and laws of Christ, 1 Tim. 5. 17» 



* The power of* Congregational Churches, &c. p. 56. 8L 
94. 115. 12rao. London, 1672, 



/ 



TESTIMONY OP 



and unto whom, as teaching and ruling, all the people 
ought to be obedient, and submit themselves; Heb. 13. 
17. And, therefore, a government merely popular, or 
democratical, (which divines and orthodox writers do so 
much condemn, in Morillms, and such Hke,) is far from 
the practice of these Churches, and, we beheve, far from 
the inind of Christ." The twenty-third question is. 
^What authority or eminency have your preaching 
l^iders above your sole Ruling Elders ; or are they both 
equal ? Answer. It is not the manner of Elders among 
us, whether Ruling only, or ruling and Teaching 
also to strive for authority or pre-eminence one above 
another.— As for the people's duty toward their Elders. 
It IS taught them plainly in that place, 1 Thess. 5. \2 
13, as also in that of 1 Tim. 5. 17; and this word 
(especially) shews them that, as they are to account all 
their Elders worthy of double honor, so in special man- 
ner their Teaching or Preaching Elders."* 

But there is another testimony of the same class, of 
stfll higher authority. In a volume entitled, " The 
Result of Three Synods, held by the Elders and Mes- 
sengers of the Churches of Massachusetts Province, 
New^England;' there is abundant evidence to the same 
effect. These Synods met in 1648, 1662, and 1679: 
Each of them was called by the General Court, or 
Legislature of the Province, and the results published 
by the court, with their sanction. 

The Synod of 1648, consisting of the divines of 
Massachusetts and Connectictit and which drew up 
what is commonly known as the Cam.br idg-e Platform, 
distinctly recognized the office under consideration as of 
dtvtne appointment. It speaks as follows, (chapter vii.) 

* The ?ower of Congregational Churches, &c. p. 47. 48, 76. 



LATER DIVINES. 



155 



The Ruling Elder's office is distinct from the office of 
Pastor and Teacher. Ruling Elders are not so called 
to exclude the Pastors and Teachers from ruling; 
because ruhng and government is common to these 
with the other: whereas attending to teach and preach 
the word, is peculiar unto the former ; Romans^ xii. 7, 
8j 9 ; 1 Timothy v. 17; 1 Corinthians xu. 27 ; Hebrews 
xiii. 17."— 

The Synod of 1679 gave its sanction, most unequivo- 
cally, to the same doctrine; not only by unanimously re- 
newing their approbation of the Platform^ of 1648, but 
also by new acts of the most decisive character. Two 
questions proposed to the Synod of 1679 were, Firsty 
" What are the evils that have provoked the Lord to bring 
his judgments on New-England ? Secondly, What is 
to be done, that so many evils may be removed? In 
their answer to the second question, the Synod say, "It 
is requisite that the utmost endeavours should be usedj 
in order to a full supply of officers in the Church, aq- 
cording to Christ's institution. The defect of these 
Churches, on this account, is very lamentable; there 
being, in most of the Churches only one Teaching 
officer, for the burdens of the whole congregation to lie 
upon. The Lord Christ would not have instituted 
Pastors, Teachers, and Ruling Elders, (nor the Apostles 
ordained Elders in every Church,) if He had not seen 
that there was need of them for the good of his people. 
And, therefore, for men to think they can do well enough 
without them, is both to break the second Command 
ment, and to reflect upon the wisdom, of Christ, as if he 
did appoint unnecessary officers in his Church."* It may 
not be improper to add, that this Synod, assembled in 



Result of Three Synods, &c., p. 109. 



TESTIMONY OF 



consequence of the " General Court of the Colony having 
called upon all the Churches therein to send their Elders 
and Messengers, that they might meet in form of a Synod, 
in order to a most serious inquiry into the questions pro-' 
pounded to them;" and that the Result, when proposed 
was read once and agam, each paragraph being duly 
and distinctly weighed in the balance of the sanctua< 
ry," and then, upon mature deliberation, the whole, 
unanimously voted, as to the substance and scope 
thereof"* ^ 

It is well known that in the Westminster Assembly 
of divmes there was a small number of learned and 
zealous Independents, who opposed some of -the most 
prominent features in the Presbyterian form of govern- 
ment with much ardour and pertinacity, and who pro- 
tracted the debates respecting them for many weeks 
But It is equally well known, that all the most able of 
those divmes were warm advocates of the office of Ru- 
ling Elder, not only as a useiul office, but as of divine 
institution. The recorded opinion of one of them, 
the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, has been already stated. No 
less pomted in maintaining the same opinion, were 
Messieurs, Bridge, Burrughs, and Nye, forming 
with Dr. Goodwin, a majority of the whole number 
And, accordmgly, in their "Reasons against the Third 
Proposition concerning Presbyterial government," they 
admit, that "the Scripture says much of two sorts of 
Elders, Teaching and Ruling; and in some places 
so plain as if of purpose to distinguish them; and ^ 
further, that the whole Reformed Churches had these 
different Elders."f 

The following very exphcit extract from the well 



Preface, p. 5, 6. f Reasons, &c. p. 3. 40, 



LATER DIVINES. 



157 



known work of the learned Herbert Tkorndike, (a di- 
vine of the Chmch of England,) on Religious Assem- 
blies,'' chapter iv. p. 117, will show his opinion on the 
subject before us. Speaking of the language of the 
Apostle in 1. Cor. xii. 28, he says :— " There is no reason 
to doubt that the men whom the Apostle here calleth 
doctors, are those of the Presbyters which had the 
abilities of preaching and teaching the people at their 
assemblies; that those of the Presbyters that preached 
not, are here called by the Apostle governments.^' 

The following remarks of the Rev. Cotton Mather, 
well known as an eminent Congregational ist of Mas- 
sachusetts, and author of the Magnalia Christi Ame- 
ricana, have too much point, and convey too much 
instruction, to omitted in this list of testimonies. 
^ There are some who cannot see any such officer as 
what we call a Ruling Elder, directed and appointed 
in the word of God; and partly through a prejudice 
against the office; and partly, indeed chiefly, through 
a penury of men well quaUfied for the discharge of it, 
as it has been heretofore understood and applied, gur 
Churches are now generally destitute of such helps in 
government. But unless a Church have divers Elders, 
the Church government must needs become either 
prelatic or popular. And that a Church's needing 
but one Elder, is an opinion, contrary not only to 

THE sense of the FAITHFUL IN ALL AGES, but alsO 

to the LAW OF THE ScRiPTURES, whcro there can be 
nothing plainer than Elders who ride loell, and are 
tvorthy of double honor, though they do not labor in 
the word and doctrine : whereas, if there were any 
teaching Elders, who do not labor hi the word and 
doctrine, they would be so far from worthy of double 
honor J that they would not be ivorthy of any honor at 
o 



158 



TESTIMONY OF 



all Towards the adjusting of the difference which Ims 
thus been in the judgments of judicious men, some 
essays have been made, and one particularly in such 
terms as these. Let it be first recognized, that aU the 
other Church Officers are the assistants of the Pastor. 
who was himself intrusted with the whole care of all| 
until the further pity and kindness of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, joined other officers unto him for his assistance 
in it. I suppose none will be so absurd as to deny this 
at least, that all the Church Officers are to take the 
advice of the Pastor with them. Upon which I subjoin, 
that a man may be a distinct officer from his Pastor, 
and yet not have a distinct office from him. The 
Pastor may be the Ruling Elder, and yet he may 
have Elders to assist hi?n in ruling, and in the actual 
discharge of some thingswhich the^are ableand proper 
to be serviceable to him in. This consideration being 
laid, I will persuade myself, every Pastor among us 
will allow me, that there is much work to be done for 
God in preparing of what belongs to the admission and 
emlusion of Church members ; in carefully inspectino- 
the umy and walk of them all, and the first appearance 
oievil with them; in preventing the very beginnings 
oiill blood among them, and instructing of all from 
house to house, more privately, and warning of all 
persons unto the things more peculiar It/ incumbent on 
them; in visiting all the afflicted, and informing of, 
and consulting with the ministers, for the welfai'e of the 
U'hole flock. And they must allow me, that this work ' 
is too heavy for any one man; and that more than one 
man, )^ea, all our Churches, do suffer beyond measure, 
because no more of this work is thoroughly performed. 
Moreover, they will acknowledge to me, that it is an 
usual thing with a prudent and faithful Pastor himself 



LATER DIVINES. 



159 



to single out some of the more grave, solid, aged brethren 
in his congregation, to assist him in many parts of this 
work, on many occasions in a year ; nor will such a 
Pastor, ordinarily, do any important thing in his 
government, without having first heard the counsels 
of such brethren. In short, there are few discreet Pastors, 
but what make many occasional Ruling Elders every 
year. I say, then, suppose the Church, by a vote, 
recommend some such brethren, the fittest they have, 
and always more than one^ unto the stated assistance 
of their Pastor, in the Church rule^ wherein they may 
be helps unto him. I do not propose that they should 
be biennial^ or triennial only, though 1 know very 
famous Churches throughout Euroi^e have them so. 
Yea, and what if they should by solemn fasting and 
f rayer be commended unto the benediction of God in 
what service they have to do? What objection can be 
made against the lawftdness? I think none can be 
made against the usef ulness of such a thing. Truly, 
for my part, — if the fifth chapter of the first Epistle to 
Timothy would not bear me out, when conscience, 
both of my duty and my iveakness made me desire 
such assistance, I would see whether the first chapter 
of Deuteronomy would not."* 

After these strong attestations in favor of the office of 
Ruling Elder, from the most pious and learned of the 
early Independents, or Congregationahsts, of New 
England — it will naturally occur to every reader, as 
an interesting question, how it came to pass, that 
Churches which once unanimously held such opinions; 
laid so much stress on them, and practised accordingly. 



* Magnalia, &c. Book v. Part ii. p. 206, 207. octavo edition^ 
1820. 



A60 TESTIMONY OF 

for about three-fourths of a century, should have, long 
since, as unanimousiy, discontinued the office? The 
first company of emigrants, in 1620, brought a Ruling 
Elder with them; and the office was universally retained 
for many years afterwards. Yet, in 1702, when 
Dr. Cotton Mather published the first edition of his 
Magnaliay it had been, as would seem, from the 
quotation just made, in a great measure, laid aside; and 
before the middle of the eighteenth century, it had 
entirely disappeared from the Churches of New-Eng- 
land. A well informed and discerning Friend has 
suggested, that the chief reason of this remarkable fact 
is probably to be traced to another fact alluded to in the 
following extract. In a small volume, printed at Boston, 
in 1700,, and entitled, " The Order of the gospel, 
professed and practised by the Churches of Christ in 
New-England, &c. ;" by Increase Mather, President 
of Harvard College, and Teacher of a Church in 
Boston-. — In this work, one of the questions discussed 
is : — " Whether or not the Brethren, and not the Elders 
of the Churches only, are to judge concerning the 
qualification and fitness of those who are admitted into 
their communion ?" In answering it, he says : — "If only 
Elders have power to judge who are fit to come to the 
sacrament, or to join to the Churches; then, in case 
there is but one Elder in a Church, (as there are very 
few Churches in New-England that have more Elders 
than one,) the sole power will reside in that one man's 
hands.*" On this passage, the Friend above referred to 
remarks, " I am inclined to think that he here means 
Riding Elders; for, 1. Several Churches (whether in 
consequence of the recommendation of the Synod of 



* Order of ike gospel, «Src. p. 25^ 



LATER DIVINES. 



16J 



1679, 1 do not know) had then two ministers. 2. This 
question and answer of Dr. /. Mather's is annexed to 
a reprint in Boston (now lying before me) of "A 
Vindication of the divine authority of RuUng Eiders in 
the Cliurch of Christ, asserted by the ministers and 
Elders met together in a Provincial Assembly, Nov. 
2d. 1649, and printed in London, 1650." But whether 
this was his meaning or not, it is abundantly evident, 
from various other sources, that the Churches of New 
England, while they retained the office of Ruling- 
Elder, had but one such Elder at a time, and his busi- 
ness w^as especially to attend to discipline. The office 
was, of course, an unwelcome one; and it became more 
and more difficult to find men willing to assume it." 

It appears, then, that our excellent brethren, the 
Puritan Independents, w^hile they zealously maintained 
the divine warrant, and the great importance of the 
Ruling Elder's office, misapprehended its real nature, 
and placed it under an aspect before the Churches 
evidently adapted to discredit and destroy it. Instead 
of appointing a plurality of these Ruling Elders, they 
seldom or never had more than one in each Church; 
and instead of uniting the Pastor with him, and forming 
a regular judicial bench for regulating the affairs of the 
Church, they seem to have placed each in a sphere 
entirely separate, and independent of each other ; nay, 
to have made the offices of Teacher and Ruler ^ wear 
an appearance of being rivals for influence and power. 
Certain it is, that the views entertained by each, of his 
proper department of duty, often, in fact, brought them 
into collision, and made the situation of the Ruler both 
uncomfortable and useless. Can it be matter of surprise^ 
that, in these circumstances, the office of Ruling Elder 
in the congregational Churches of New-England, 



162 



TESTIMON^Y OF 



gained but little favor with the body of the people ; that 
it came to be considered as, at once, odious and useless; 
would be undertaken by few; and, at length, fell into- 
entire disuse? 

The testimony of the Rev. Dr. John Edwards, an 
eminently pious and learned divine of the Church of 
England, who flourished during the latter half of the 
seventeenth century, is equally decisive in favor of this 
office. His language is as follows: — 

" This office of a Ruling Elder is according to the 
practice of the Church of God among the Jews, his 
own people. It is certain that there was this kind of 
Elders under that economy — There were two sorts of 
Elders among the Jews, the Ruling ones, who go- 
verned in their Assemblies and Synagogues, and the 
Teaching ones, who read and expounded the Scriptures. 
Accordingly, Dr. Lightfoot, in his Harmony of the 
New Testament, inclines to interpret 1 Timothy 5, 17, 
of the Elders in the Christian congregations, who 
answer to the lay-Elders in the Jewish Synagogue. 
For this learned writer, who was w ell versed in the 
Jewish customs and practices, tells us, that in every 
Synagogue among the Jews, there were Elders that 
ruled chiefly in the affairs of the Synagogue, and other 
Elders y that labored in the word and doctrine!'' 
" And so it was in the Christian Church ; there was a 
mixture of Clergy and Laity in their consults about 
Church matters, as we see frequently in the Acts of 
the Apostles. The Christian Church retained this 
usage, for which they quote St. Augusti?ie's, 137th 
Epistle, where he mentions the Clergy and the Elders^ 
and the people. So in his third book against Cresco- 
7iius, he mentions Deacons and /Seniors, that is lay- 
Elders, for he distinguishes them from other Presby- 



LATER DIVINES. 



ters. One of his Epistles to his Church in Hippo i& 
thus superscribed, ' To the Clergy and the Elders.^ 
See chapter 56th, in the fore-named book against Cres- 
conius, where he mentions Peregrimcs, the Presbyter. 
and- the Elders (Seniores.)* And nothing can be 
plainer than that of St. Ambrose — ' Both the Syna- 
gogue and afterwards the Church, had their Elders, 
without whose counsel nothing was done in the Churchy 
&c.' Further, we read of these Seniors in the 
writings of OptatuSy p. 41, and in the Epistles an- 
nexed to him, which the reader may consult. Thus 
it appears that this was an an ancient office in the 
Church, and not invented by Calvin, as some 
have thought and writ."t 

. "And then, as to the reason of the things there should 
be no gi'ound of quarrelling with this office in the 
Church, seeing it is so useful. It was instituted for the 
ease of the preaching Elders^ that they might not be 
overburdened with business, and that they might more 
conveniently apply themselves to that employment 
which is purely ecclesiastical and spiritual. Truly if 



* It will not escape the notice of the discerning reader that 
these testimonies from 4^w^Mi?ime Ambrose, and Optatus, which 
some have ventured, very unceremoniously, to treat with con- 
tempt, when brought forward on this subject, are reg-arded by 
this very learned Episcopalian, as evidence of the most conclu- 
sive character. 

f The old and hacknied allegation, which has been the 
theme of high-toned Episcopalians and Independents for more 
than two hundred years, that Calvin invented and first intro- 
duced Ruling Elders, it will be observed is confidently rejected 
by this truly learned Episcopal Divine, who, from his ecclesi-^ 
astical connexion, cannot be supposed to have had any other 
inducement to adopt the opinion which he has expressed, thai^ 
his love of truth. 



164 



TESTIMONY OF 



there was no such office mentianed in the Scripture. 
we might reasonably wish for such a one, it being* so 
useful and serviceable to the great purposes of religion. 
What can be more desirable than that there should be 
one or more appointed to observe the conversation of 
the flock, in order to the exercising of disciphne. The 
Pastor himself cannot be supposed to have an eye on 
every one of his charge; and, therefore, 'tis fitting, that 
out of those who are fellow-members, and daily converse 
with one another; and, therefore, are capable of acquaint- 
ing themselves wnth their manners and behaviour, there 
should be chosen these Elders I am speaking of, to inspect 
the carriage and deportment of the flock."* 

The judgment of the Rev. Dr. Jerome Kromayer, 
a very learned Lutheran divine, and Professor of Di- 
vinity in the University of Leipsic, who lived in the 
seventeenth century, is very decisive in favor of the 
apostolical institution of Ruling Elders. " Of Presby- 
ters, or Elders," says he, " there were formerly two 
kinds, those who taught, and those who exercised the 
office of rulers in the Church. This is taught in 
1 Timothy v. 17; Let the Elders that rule well be 
accounted icorthy of doable honor, especially they 
who labor in the word and doctrine. The latter 
were the same as om- Ministers; the foimer, were like 
the members of our Consistories. "j 

A similar testimony may be adduced from Frede- 
rick Baldwin, another distinguished Lutheran divine 
and Professor, of the same century, who is no less 



* Theologia Reformata, Vol. i. Mnth Article of the Creed, 
p. 526. 528. 

t Historia Ecclesiastica, auctore Hieronymo Kromayero. 
D. D. S, S. T. D. in Acad. Leips. 4Lo. p. 59. 



LATER DIVINES. 



165 



decisive in favor of the class of officers ynder consi- 
deration* 

The celebrated John Casper tSuicer, an eminently 
learned Gennan divine and Professor, in his The- 
saurus Ecclesiasticusy after speaking particularly of 
Teaching Presbyters or Eldei's, in the first place, pro- 
ceeds to speak of another class of Elders, who, (he 
says,) " chosen from among the people, (or laity^ are 
united with the Pastors, or Ministers of the Word, that 
they may be guardians of the discijdine of the Church. 
To these the Apostle Paul refers in 1 Timothy v. 17, 
where, by the Elders who labor in the word and 
doctrine, he evidently understands that class of Elders 
of which we have spoken in the preceding section; and 
by those who rule well, he plainly refers to the class of 
which we now speak. For if he had intended to speak 
of only one class, why did he add, especially, those who 
labor in the xcord and doctrine! This class are also 
designated by the term -Tr^ojgrafjLSvoug, in Romans xii. 8, 
and by the term xvl3spvr](rsis, in 1 Corinthians xii. 28 ."t 

The very exphcit testimony of Dr. Whitby^ of the 
Church of England, was produced in a preceding 
chapter, when we were discussing the scriptural evi- 
dence in favor of the office under consideration. It 
need not, therefore, here be repeated, excepting simply 
to remind the reader of its decisive character. The 
concessions also of Bishop Fell, the Rev. Mr. Marshall, 
and the celebrated Mr. Dodwell, of the same Church, 
will also, in this connexion, be borne in mind. They 
may be found in the fourth chapter, in coaanexion with 
the testimc«iy from the Fathers. 



* Fred. Balduini Institui. Mmistroryim Verhi. Cap. ICk 
f SuiCERi Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, Art. Tr^M^vn-tga, 



166 



TESTIMONY OF 



The pious and excellent Dr. Watts, though not a 
Presbyterian, must be considered as indirectly doing 
homage to this part of the Presbyterian system, when 
he says, (in his Treatise on the Foundation of the 
Christian Church, p, 125.) " If it happens that there is 
but one Minister or Presbyter in a Church, or if the 
minister^ are young men, of small experience in the 
world, it is useM and proper that some of the eldest, 
gravest, and wisest members be deputed, by the Church, 
to join with and assist the ministers in the care and 
management of that affair, (the admission and exclu- 
sion of members.") 

The Rev. Dr. Doddridge, universally known as an 
eminently learned and pious didne of England, of the 
Independent denomination, in reference to the office in 
question, speaks thus: — " It seems to be solidly argued, 
from 1 Timothy v. 17, that there were, in the primitive 
Church, some Elders, who did not use to preach. No- 
thing very express is said concerning them: only it 
seems to be intimated, James v. 14, that they prayed 
with the sick. It may be very expedient, even on the 
principles of human prudence, to appoint some of the 
more grave and honorable members of the society to 
join with the Pastor in the oversight of it, who may 
constitute a kind of council with him, to deliberate on 
affairs in which the society is concerned, and prepare 
them for being brought before the Church for its decision, 
to pray with the sick, to reconcile differences, (fee."* 

The same distinguished wTiter, in his Commentary 
on 1 Timothy, v. 17, has the following remark. Es- 
pecially they who labor, &c. This seems to intimate 
that there were some who, though they presided in the 



Lectures on Divinity, Proposition 150. Scholium bih. 



LATER DIVINES. 



167 



Church, were not employed in preaching. Limborch, 
indeed, is of opinion that xoffiwvrsj signifies those who 
did even fatigue themselves with their extraordinary 
labors^ which some might not do, who yet, in the gene- 
ral, presided well, supposing preaching to be a part of 
their work. But it seems to me much more natural 
to follow the former interpretation." 

The celebrated Professor Neander, of Berlin, was 
mentioned in a preceding chapter, as probably, the 
most profoundly learned Christian antiquarian now 
living. In addition to the quotation from him presented 
in that chapter, the following, from the same work, is 
worthy of notice. 

That the name sirtdxoiros, was of the same significa- 
tion with it^zd^vrs^oi, is manifest from those places' in 
the New Testament where these words are exchano-ed 
the one for the other; Acts xx. 17. 28. Tit. I 5. 7; and 
from those passages where, after the office of Bishop 
that of Deacon is mentioned; so that no other office 
can be imagined between them. If the name BmdxoK^ 
had been used to distinguish any of these Elders from 
the rest, as a ruler in the Church Senate, a pri- 
mus inter pares, this use of it interchangeably with 
'xlcd^vrsQos would not have obtained." 

" These Presbyters, or Bishops, had the oversight of 
the whole Church, in all its general concerns; but the 
office of teaching was not appropriated exclusively to 
them; for, as we have above remarked, all Christians 
had a right to speak in their meetings for the edification 
of the members. It does not follow from this, however, 
that all the Church members were capable of giving 
instruction: and it is important to distinguish a faculty 
for instruction which was under the command of an 
individual; from the miraculous and sudden impulses of 



168 



TESTIMONY OF 



inspiration, as in prophecy, and the gift of tongues; and 
which might be bestowed upon those not remarkably 
favored by natural gifts. The care of the Churches, 
the preservation and extension of pure evangeUcal truth, 
and the defence of it against the various fomns of error, 
which early appeared, could not be left entirely to depend 
upon these extraordinaiy and often transient impulses. 
The weakness of human nature to which was com- 
mitted the treasure of the gospel, as in " earthen vessels,'' 
seemed to render it necessary that there should be, in 
every Church, some possessed of the natural endow- 
ments necessary to instruct theii" brethren in the truth, 
to warn and exhort them against error, and lead them 
forward in the way of life. Such endowments presup- 
pose a previous course of instmction, clearness and 
acuteness of thought, and a power to communicate their 
ideas ; and when these were present, and the Sphit of 
God was imparted to animate and sanctify, the man 
became possessed of the " x«^"''f^^ 5«5a(rxaXia?," Those 
possessed of this XH^^^^^ were, on this accoimt, calculated 
for all the purposes above alluded to, without excluding 
the remainder from exercising the gift imparted to them, 
of whatever kind it might be. On this account, the 
;^a^»tfjxa 5<(5atfxaX»a5, and the situation of teachers, (bi6a(S~ 
xaXioj,) who were distinguished by tliis gift, was repre- 
sented as something entirely distinct and peculiar. 
(1 Cor. xii. 28. xiv. 6. Ephes. iv. 11.) All members 
of a Church could, at times, speak before their brethren, 
either to call upon God, or to praisie him, when so in- 
clined ; but only a few were ^i^atfxaXoi, in the full sense 
of that term." 

" It is very clear, too, that this talent for teachings 
Avas different from that of governing, (i. e., x'>l^<^\^^ 
' xvp^vYidsus,) which was especially necessary for him who 



tATER DIVINES. 



169 



took his seat in the Council of the Church, that is for a 
^fS^guTEeos or s».«o«s. One might possess the knowledge 
of external matlei s-the tact, the Chi istian prudence ne- 
cessary for this duty, without the mental qualities so pe- 
culiarly desirable in a teacher. In the first apostolic 
Church, fiom which every thing like mere arbitrary ar^ 
rano-ements concerning rank were very distant, and all 
offices were looked upon only as they promised the attam- 
ment of the great end of the Christian faith, the offices of 
teacher and ruler, a.5«(r>c«X<,s and «o.(*viv were se/>a^ 
rated For this distinction, see Romans xii. 7, 8. In 
noticing this well defined distinction, we may be led to 
the opinion, that originally, those called, by way of pre- 
ference, teachers, did not belong to the class of rulers, 
or overseers. Also, it is not clearly proved that they 
did always belong to the class of ^|£<r«u«jo.. Only this 
is CERTAIN— that it was considered as desirable that, 

AMONG THE RULERS THERE SHOULD BE THOSE 

CAPABLE OP TEACHING ALSO. Wheu^it is eujoined 
upon the Presbyters in general, as in the fareweU of 
Paul to the Church of Ephesus, {Ads xx.) to watch 
over the Church, and preserve its doctrine pure, it does 
not necessarily follow that the duty of teaching, m its 
Strict sense, wa? inskted on ; but rather a general su^ 
perintendence of the affairs of that body. But when m 
the Epistle to Titus, it is demanded in an e^,tfxo*os that 
he not only "hold fast the form of sound words" m 
his private capacity ; but that he should be able to 
Strengthen others therein, to overcome opposers, and 
"convince gainsayers," it seems to be impUed that he 
should possess the " gift of teaching." This must have 
been in many situations of the Churches, exposed as 
they' were to errors of every kind, highly desirable, 
^nd on this account, in 1 Tim. v. IT, those among tli-v 



9 



170 



TESTIMONY OF 



*fS(rgurs|e/, who united the gift of teaching (5»5«tfxaX.«) 
with that oi governing, {xv(3s^r,ais) were to be especially 
hmiored. l^his distinction of the two gifts shows that 
they were not constantly or necessarily united."* 

The same writer says :— We find another office 
in the apostohc times— that Deacons. The duties of 
this office were from the first only external, {Acts^.,) 
as it seems to have taken its rise for tlie sole purpose of 
attending to the distribution of alms. The care of the 
lx>or, however, and of the sick, and many other external 
duties were, in process of time, imposed upon thos'e in 
this station. Besides the Deacons, there were also 
Deaconesses appointed, who could have free access to 
\hQ female part of the Chm'ch, which was, on account 
of the peculiar manners of the East, denied, to a great 
extent to men. Here the female had an opportunity 
of exercising her powers for the extension of the true 
faith, without overstepping the bounds of modesty and 
propriety, and in a field othen\ise inaccessible. * It was 
their duty, too, as experienced Christian mothers, to 
give advice and support to the younger women, as 
seems to have been the case from Tertullian, Be 
Virgin, Veland. c. 9.'""t 

Only one authority more shall be adduced on tliis 
subject, and that shaU l^e from the pen of our venera- 
ble and eloquent countryman, the Rev. Dr. Dxiight. 
whose character for learning, talents and piety needs 

* It is worthy of notice that this profound ecclesiastical 
historian, in another place, quotes Hilary [Ambrose) as speak- 
mg. of the Ruling Elders, in the Synagogue and in the Church, 
and interprets him as plainly teaching the distinction here 
made between teaching and rulmg Elders, sobstantiallv as we 
have done in a preceding chapter. 

t Kirchengeschithie., 



LATER DIVINES. 1^1 

no attestation from the writer of this Essay. Though 
himself a Congregationalist, and without any other 
inducement to declare in favor of RuUng Elders, than 
that which the force of truth presented, he expresses 
himself concerning their office in the followmg une^ 
quivocal terms Ruling Elders are, in my appre^ 
hension, scriptural officers of the Christian 
Church; and I cannot but think our defection, 
with respect to these officers, from the practice of the 
first settlers of New-England, an error in ecclesi^ 

ASTICAL GOVERNMENT."* 

This array of witnesses might be greatly extended, 
were it proper to detain the reader with further ex- 
tracts. But it is presumed that those which have 
been produced are abundantly sufficient. It will be 
observed that no Presbyterian has been cited as an au- 
thority in this case. The names, indeed, of multitudes 
of that denomination, might have been produced, equal 
to any others that can be shown on the catalogue of 
piety, talents and learning. But the testimony of more 
impartial witnesses may be preferred. Recourse has 
been had, then, to those who could not possibly have 
been swayed by a Presbyterian bias. And a sufficiency 
of such has been produced, it is hoped, to make a deep 
impression on candid minds. Romanists, Protestant 
Episcopalians, Lutherans and Independents, have all 
most remarkably concurred in vindicating an office, the 
due admission and scriptural use of which are, perhaps, 
of more importance to the best interests of the Church 
of God, than this, or any other single volume can fully 
display. 

* Theology Explained and Defended, Vol. iv. p. 399» 



CHAPTER VITI. 

ftULlNG ELDERS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY IN THE 
CHURCH. 

By this is meant, that the laws which Christ has 
appointed for the government and edification of his 
people, cannot possibly be execi:tefl, without such a 
class of officers in fact, whatever name they may bear. 
But that which is the necessary resvlt of a divine 
institution, is of equal authority with the institution 
itself. All powers or instruments really indispensable 
to the faithful and plenary execution of laws which an 
infinitely wise Governor has enacted, must be con- 
sidered as impUed in those laws, even should they not 
be formally specified. 

Now, all serious impartial readers of the Bible be- 
lieve, that, besides the preaching of the gospel, and the 
administration of the sacraments, there is very much 
to be done for promoting the order, purity and edi- 
fication of the Church, by the maintenance of a 
scriptural Disciphne. They believe that the best interest 
of every ecclesiastical community requires, that there 
be a constant and faithful inspection of all the mem- 
bers and families of the Church; that the negligent be 
admonished ; that wanderers be reclaimed ; that scan- 
dals be removed; that irregularities be corrected; that 
dififerences be reconciled; and every proper measure 



ARE NECESSARY. 173 



adwted to bind the whole body together by the ties o 
Christian purity and charity. They consider .t as 
Sly importanl that there be added to the labors of 
the Pulpit! those of teaching "from house to house, 
visiting the sick, conversing with senous rnqmrers 
catechLng children, learning as far J"^^^^ 
character and state of every member, even the poores^ 
and most obscure, of the flock, and -deavounng by 
all scriptural means, to promote the knowledge, hoi - 
„ess, comfort and spiritual welfare of every mdtvrduaL 
They beUeve, in fine, that none ought to be admUted 
to the communion of the Church, without a careful ex- 
amination in reference to their knowledge, orthodox, 
good moral character and hopeful piety; that none 
ought to be permitted to remain m the bosom of the 
Church, without maintaining, in some tolerab k degree, 
a chara;ter proper for professing Christians ; that n ne 
ou-ht to be suspended from the enjoyment of Chmch 
privileges but after a fair trial; and that none should be 
finally excommunicated from the covenanted fannly 
of Christ, without the most patient inquiiy, and every 
suitable effort to bring them to repentance and reforma- 



tion. 



It is, no doubt, true, that the very suggestion of the 
necessity and importance of discipline in the Church 
is odious to manv who bear the Christian name. The 
worldly and careless portion of every Church consider- 
the interposition of ecclesiastical inspection and authority 
in reference to the fives and conversation of its mem- 
bers, as officious and offensive meddling with private 
concerns. They would much rather retam their ex- 
ternal standing, as professors of religion, and, at the 
same time, pursue their unhallowed pleasures without 
control. They never wish to see a minister, as sucn, 
p 2 



RULING ELDERS 

but in the Pulpit ; or any Church officer in any other 
place than lus seat in the sanctuary. To stick persons 
the entire absence of the class of officers for which we 
are pleading, together with the exercise of all their 
appropriate functions, would be matter rather of felici 
tationih».n regret. Hence the nolent opposition made 
to the introduction of RuUng Eiders into the Church of 
Geneva, by the worldly and licentious part of her mem- 
bers And hence the insuperable repugnance to the 
estabhshment of sound and scriptural discipline, mani- 
fested so repeatedly, and to this day, by some of the 
largest national Churches of Europe. 

But I need not say to those who take their views of 
die Christian Church, and its real prosperity, from the 
Bible and from the best experience, that enlightened, 
and faithfiU discipMne is, not only important, but 
absolutely essential to the purity and edification of the 
body of Christ. It ought to be regarded as one of the 
most precious means of grace, by which offenders are 
humbled, softened, and brought to repentance; the 
Church purged of imworthy members ; offences remov- 
ed; the honor of Christ promoted ; real Christians 
^tmiulated and improved in their spiritual course- 
faithful testimony borne against error and crime; and 
the professing family of Christ made to appear holy and 
beautiful m the view of the world. Without wholesome 
discipUne, for removing offences, and excluding the 
corrupt and profane, there may be an assembly 
but there cannot be a Church. The truth L«, the ex- 
ercise of a faithful watch and care over the purity of 
each other in doctrine, worship, and life, is one of the 
principal purposes for which the Christian Church wa.« 
established, and on account of which it is hio-hly prized 
by every enlightened believer. And I have no doubr 



ARE NECESSARY. 



176 



it may be safely affirmed, that a large part of all that 
is holy in the Church, at the present day, either 
in faith or practice, may be ascribed, under God, as 
much to sound ecclesiastical discipUne, as to the faithful 
preaching of the gospel. 

And if the maintenance of disciphne be all important 
to the interests of true rehgion, it is a matter of no less 
importance that it be conducted with mildness, prudence, 
and wisdom. Rashness, precipitancy, undue severity, 
malice, partiality, popular fury, and attempting to en- 
force rules which Christ never gave, are among the 
may evils which have too often marked the dispensa- 
tion of authority in the Church, and not unfrequently 
defeated the great purpose of discipline. To conduct 
it aright, is, undoubtedly, one of the most delicate and 
arduous parts of ecclesiastial administration; requiring 
all the piety, judgment, patience, gentleness,, maturity 
of counsel, and prayerfulness which can be brought to 
bear upon the subject. 

Now the question is, by whom shall all these multi- 
plied, weighty and indispensable services be performed ? 
Besides the arduous work of pubHc instruction and 
exhortation, who shall attend to all the numberless and 
ever-recurring details of inspection, warning and visita- 
tion, which are so needful in every Christian communityl 
Will any say, it is the duty of the Pastor of each Church 
to perform them all 7 The very suggestion is absurd.. 
It is physically impossible for him to do it. He cannot 
be every where, and know every thing. He cannot 
perform w^hat is expected from him, and at the same time 
so watch over his whole flock as to fulfil every duty 
which the interest of the Church demands. He must 
"give himself to reading;" he must prepare for the 
services of the pulpit ; he must discharge his various 



176 



RT7LING ELDERS 



public labors ; he must employ much time iii private, 
in instmcting and counselling those who apply to him 
for instruction and advice ; and he must act his part in 
the concerns of the whole Church with which he is 
connected. Now. is it practicable for any man. however 
diligent and active, to do all this, and at tlie same time to 
perform the whole work of inspection and government 
over a congregation of the ordinar}' size? We might 
as well expect and demand any impossibihty ; and im- 
possibihties the great and merciful Head of the Church 
requires of no man. 

But. even if it were reasonable or possible thiat a 
Pastor should, alone, perform all these duties, ought he 
to be willing to undertake them: or ought the Church 
to he wilKng to commit them to him alone] TVe know 
that ministers are subject to the same frailties and im- 
perfections with other men. We know. foo. that a love 
of pre-eminence and of power is not only natural to 
them, in common with others: but that tliis piinciple. 
very early after the days of the Apostles, began to mani- 
fest itself as the reigning sin of ecclesiastics, and pro- 
duced, first Prelacy, and afterwards Popeiy. which has 
so long and so ignobly enslaved the Chmxh of Christ. 
Does not this plainly show the foUy and danger of 
\ielding im defined power to Pastors alone? Is it ^vi5e 
or safe to constitute one man a despot over a whole 
Church? Is it proper to intmst to a single individual 
the weighty and comphcated work of inspecting, trying, 
iudginof. admitting, condemnins:. excluding and restor- 
ing, without control? Ought the members of a Church 
to consent that all their rights and privileges in reference 
to Christian communion, should be subject to the will 
of a siusle man. as his partiality, kindness, and favorit- 
ism, on the one hand: or his caprice, prejudice. or passion, 



ARE NECESSARY. 



on the other, might dictate? Such a mode of conduct- 
ing the government of the Chmch, to say nothing of 
its unscriptural character, is, in the highest degree, un- 
reasonable and dangerous. It can hardly fail to exert 
an influence of the most injurious character, both on the 
clergy and laity. It tends to nuilure m the former, a 
spirit of selfishness, pride and ambition; and instead of 
ministers of hohness, love and i. jrcy, to transform them 
into ecclesiastical tyrants. While its tendency, with re- 
gard to the lattery is gradually to beget in them a bUnd^ 
implicit submission to clerical domination. The eccle- 
siastical encroachments and despotism of former times, 
aheady alluded to, read us a most uistructive lesson on 
this subject. The fact is, conunitting the whole govern- 
ment of the Church to the hands of Pastors alone^ may 
be affirmed to carry in it some of the worst seeds of 
Popery; which, though under the administration Q% 
good men, they may not at once lead to palpable mis- 
chief, will seldom fail of producing, in the end, the most 
serious evils, both to those w^ho govern, and those who 
obey. 

Accordingly, as was intimated in a preceding chapter, 
we have no example in Scripture of a Church being 
committed to the government of a single individual. 
Such a thing was unknown in the Jewish Synagogue, 
it was unknown in the apostolic age. And it continued 
to be unknown, until ecclesiastical pride and ambitimi 
introduced it, and wiJth it a host of mischiefs to the body 
of Christ. In all the primitive Churches we find a plu- 
rahty of "Elders;" and we read enough in the early 
records, in some particular cases, to perceive that these 
» Elders" were not only chosen by the members of the 
Church, out of theii- own number, as their representa- 
tives, to exercise over them the functions of IjispectiQa 



178 



RULING ELDERS. 



and ruling; but that, whenever they ceased to discharge 
the duties of their office acceptably, they might be re- 
moved from its actual exercise at the pleasure of those 
by whom they were chosen. Thus plainly evincing, 
that the constitution of the primitive C'hurch was emi- 
nently adapted to guard against ecclesiastical tyranny; 
and that if that constitution had been preserved, the 
evils of clerical encroachment would have been avoided. 
Accordingly, it is remarkable that the pious A^nbrose, a 
venerable Father of the fourth century, quoted in a 
former chaptei-, expressly conveys an intimation of this 
kind, when speaking of the gradual disuse of the office 
of Ruling Elder. " Which order," says he, " by what 
negligence it grew into disuse, I know not, unless, per- 
haps, by the sloth, or rather by the pride of the teachers, 

WHO ALONE WISHED TO APPEAR SOMETHING." 

" It is a vain apprehension," says the venerable Dr. 
Owen,'' to suppose that one or two teaching officers in 
a Church, who are obliged to give themselves unto the 
word and prayer, to labor in the word and doctrine, to 
^.each in and out of season— shg^dd be able to take 
care of, and attend with diligence unto, all those things 
that do evidently belong unto the rule of the Church. 
And hence it is, that Churches at this day do hve on the 
preaching of the word, and are very little sensible of the 
wisdom, goodness, love and care of Christ in the insti-' 
tution of this mle in the Church, nor are partakers of 
the benefits of it unto their edification. And the supply 
which many have hitherto made herein, by persons 
either unacquainted with theii' duty, or insensible of 
their own authority, or cold, if not neghgent in theii- 
work, doth not answer the end of their institution. 
And hence it is, that the authority of government, and 
(he benefit of it, are ready to be lost in most Churches. 



ARE NECESSARY. 



179 



And it is both vainly and presumptuously pleaded, to 
give countenance unto a neglect of their order, that 
some Churches do walk in love and peace, and are 
edified without it ; supplying some defects by the pru- 
dent aid of some members of them. For it is nothing 
but a preference of our own wisdom, unto the wisdom 
and authority of Christ ; or at best an unwillingness to 
make a venture on the warranty of his rule, for fear of 
some disadvantages that may ensue thereon."* 

If, in order to avoid the evils of the Pastor standing 
alone in the inspection and government of his Church, 
it be alledged, that the whole body of the Church 
members may be his auxiliaries in this arduous work ; 
still the difficulties are neither removed nor diminished. 

For, in the first place, a great majority of all Church 
members, we may confidently say, are altogether un- 
qualified for rendering the aid to the Pastor which is 
here contemplated. They have neither the knowledge, 
the wisdom, nor the prudence necessary for the purpose ; 
and to imagine a case of ecclesiastical regimen, in which 
every weak, childish, and indiscreet individual, who, 
though serious and well-meaning enough to enjoy the 
privilege of Chiistian communion, is wholly unfit to be 
an inspector and ruler of others, should be associated 
with the Pastor, in conducting the delicate and arduous 
work of parochial regulation, is too preposterous to be 
regarded with favor, by any judicious mind. Can it be 
believed, for a moment, that the all- wise Head of the 
Church has appointed a form of government for his peo- 
ple in which ignorance, weakness, and total unfitness 
for the duty assigned them, should alw^ays, and almost 
necessarily, characterize a great majority of those to 

* True Mure of a Gospel Churchy p. 177, 178* 



180 



RULING ELDERS. 



whom the oversight and guidance of the Church were 
committed ? Surely this is altogether incredible. 

And if this consideration possess weight in regard to 
old and settled Churches, established in countries which 
have been long favored with the light and order of the 
Gospel; how much more to Pagan lands, and to 
Churches recently gathered from the wilds of Africa, the 
^legraded inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, or the 
miserable devotees of Hindoo idolatry? If in the best 
instructed and best regulated Churches in Christendom, 
a majority of the members are utterly unqualified to 
participate in the government of the sacred family; 
what can be expected of those recent, and necessarily 
dubious converts from blind heathenism, who must, of 
course, be babes in knowledge and experience, who are 
surrounded with ignorance and brutality, and have just 
been snatched themselves from the same degradation ? 
Surely if we may say, with propriety, of some nations, 
who have recently thro^vn off the chains of slavery, to 
which they had long been accustomed, that they were 
not prepared for a republican form of government ; with 
still more confidence may we maintain, that, whoever 
may be prepared to take part in the government of the 
Church, the poor novices, in the situation supposed, are 
totally unqualified. Even if the popular form of eccle- 
siastical polity could be considered as well adapted to 
the case of a people of more enhghtened and elevated 
character, which may well be questioned ; — it must be 
pronounced altogether unfit for a Church made up of such 
materials. Now it is the glory of the Gospel, that it is 
adapted to all people, and all states of society. Of course, 
that form of ecclesiastical government which is not of a 
similar stamp, affords much ground of suspicion that it 
is not of God, and ought to be rejected. 



ARE NECESSARY. 



181 



But further ; if the greater part of the members of the 
€hurch were much better qualified than they common- 
ly are, for co-operating in its government, would their 
co-operation be Ukely to be really obtained in a prompt, 
steady, and faithful manner'^ All experience pronounces 
that it would not. We know that there are few things, 
in the government and regulation of the Church, more 
irksome to our natural feelings, than doing what fidelity 
requires, in cases of discipline. When the ministers of 
reUgion are called upon to dispense truth, to instruct, 
to exhort, and to administer sacraments, they engage 
in that in which we may suppose pious men habitually to 
dehght, and to be always ready to proceed with alacrity. 
But we may say of the business of ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline, that it is the "strange work," even of the pious 
and faithful. It is, in its own nature, an unacceptable 
and unwelcome employment. To take cognizance of 
delinquencies in faith or practice ; to admonish offenders; 
to call them, when necessary, before the proper tribunal: 
to seek out and array proof with fidehty ; to drag in- 
sidious error, and artful wickedness from their hiding 
places : and to suspend, or excommunicate from the 
privileges of the Church, when the honor of religion, 
and the best interests of the body of Christ, call for these 
measures;— is painful work to every benevolent mind. 
It is work in which no man is willing to engage, unless 
constrained by a sense of duty. Even those who are 
bound by official obhgation to undertake the task, are 
too apt to shrink from it; but where there is no parti- 
cular obhgation lying on any one member of the Church 
more than another to take an active interest in this 
work— the consequence will probably be, that few will 
be disposed to engage in the self-denying duty. Where 
all are equally bound, all may be equally backward, or 



182 



RULING ELDERS 



negligent, without feeling themselves chargeable witli 
any special delinquency. And, what is worthy of notice, 
those who will be most apt to go forward in this work, 
and proffer their aid with most readiness, will generally be 
the bold, the vain, the ardent, the rash, the impetuous; — 
precisely those who are, of all persons hving, the most 
unfit for such an employment. But even if it were 
otherwise ; if all the members of the Church were equally 
forward and active, what might be expected in a re- 
ligious community, when every member of that com- 
munity was equally a ruler; and when the most ignorant 
and childish busy-body among them, might be continu- 
ally tampering with its government, and fomenting dis- 
tm-bances, with as much potency as the most intelligent 
and wise? The truth is, in such a community, tran- 
quilUty, order and peace could scarcely be expected, 
long together, to have any place. 

We could scarcely have a more instructive comment 
on these remarks, than the practice of those Churches 
which reject Ruling Elders. Our Episcopal brethren 
reject them. But they are obliged to have their Vestr7/~ 
men and Church Wardens, who, though no divine 
warrant is claimed for them, and they are not set apart 
in the same manner, or formally invested with the same 
powers with our Ruling Elders, yet they perform many 
of the same functions, in substance, and are, in fact, 
official counsellors and helps. True, indeed, these 
officers are not clothed with the power, and seldom 
perform any acts, of ecclesiastical discipline^ properly 
so called , yet they may be, and sometimes, perhaps, 
are, consulted on subjects of this nature. And, where 
this is not the case, we may say, without impropriety, 
that, in Churches of that denomination, no discipline 
is exercised. In the Church of England, as is con- 



ARE NECESSARY. 



183 



fessed on all hands, no scriptm-al discipline exists. 
The most profligate and vile are not excluded from the 
communion of the establishment. This is deeply la- 
mented by many of the pious members of that es- 
tablishment; and at an early period, after the com- 
mencement of the Reformation in that country, it was 
earnestly wished and proposedj as we have seen hi a 
preceding chapter, to introduce RuHng Elders, as a 
principal means of restoring and maintaining discipline. 
And although the absence of discipline does not existj 
to the same extent, in the Churches of the Protestant 
Episcopal denomination in the United States ; yet, it 
may be altogether wanting, as to any pure and efficient 
exercise, in all those Episcopal Churches in which 
some leading, pious laymen are not habitually consul- 
ted and employed in maintaining it. A pious minister, 
indeed, of that denomination, may and does conform to 
his rubrics, in giving the people proper instruction and 
warning, as to a suitable approach to the communion 
which he dispenses. But here he is commonly obliged 
to stop ; or, at any rate, does, in practice, usually stop. 
All efficient inspection of the moral condition of the 
whole Church, admonishing the careless, bringing 
back the wanderers, and causing those who persist in 
error or in vice, to feel the discipline of ecclesiastical 
correction, is, notoriously, almost unknown in the 
Churches of the denomination to which we refer. And 
this deficiency is, manifestly, not owing to the want 
of intelligent and conscientious piety in many of the 
ministers of those Churches ; but, beyond all doubt, to 
the entire want of an organization which alone renders 
the exeicise of a faithful and impartial disciphne at all 
practicable. 

Our Congregational brethren also reject Ruling 



184 



RULING ELDERS 



Elders. Yet it is well known that, while they adopt 
a form of government which, in theory, allows to every 
member of the Church an equal share in the exercise 
of discipHne; their most judicious Peistors, warned by 
painful experience of the troublesome character, and 
uncertain issues, of popular management, in dehcate and 
difficult cases which involve Chiistian character, — are 
careful to have a Committee of the most pious,^ intelli- 
gent and pmdent of their Chiu-ch members, who con- 
sider each case of discipline before-hand in private, and 
prepare it for a pubhc decision ; and thus perfonii, in fact, 
some of the most important of the duties of Ruhng Elders. 
This is what the venerable Dr. Cotton Mather^ doubt- 
less,^ means when he says, as quoted in a precedmg 
chapter, that "there are few discreet Pastors but whaf 
make many occasional Ruling Elders every year;'* and 
when he gives it as his opinion, in the same connexion , 
that without something of this kind, Churches must suffer 
imspeakably with respect to discipline. And, where 
nothing of this kind is done, the experience of Indepen- 
dent and Congregational Churches, in conducting disci 
phne, it is well known, is often such as is calculated to 
give deep and lasting pain to those who love the peace 
and order of the Chmch. Strife, tumult and division of 
the most distressing kind, are often the consequence ol 
attempting to rid the Church of one corrupt member. 

But perhaps it will be said, let the Pastor habitually 
call to his aid, in conducting the disciphne of the Churchy 
a few of the most judicious and pious of liis communi- 
cants; those whom he knows to be most conscientious 
and wise in counsel. But neither is this an adequate 
remedy. The Pastor may consult such if he please. 
But he may choose to omit it, and be governed entirely 
by his own counsels. Or, if he consult any, he ma\ 



ARE NECESSARY. 



185 



always select his particular friends, who he knows, will 
encourage and support him in his favorite measures : 
thus furnishing no real relief in the end. How much 
better to have a bench of assistant Rulers, regularly 
chosen by the people, and with whom he shall be 
bound to take counsel in all important measures ! 

Thus it is that those Churches which reject the class 
of officers which it is the object of this Essay to re- 
commend, do practically bear witness that it is impos- 
sible to conduct discipline in a satisfactory manner 
without having a set of individuals, virtually, if not 
formally, vested with similar powers. Where no such 
efficient substitute is employed, discipline is either in a 
great measure neglected ; or its maintenance is attended 
wdth inconveniences of the most serious kind. In other 
words, the opponents of Ruling Elders are obhged either 
to neglect discipline altogether, or, for maintaining it, 
to have recourse to auxiharies of similar character and 
{X)wer, while they deny that there is any divine warrant 
for them. Now, is it probable, is it credible, that our 
blessed Lord, the all-wise King and Head of his Churchy 
and his Apostles, guided by his own Spirit, should en- 
tirely overlook this necessity, and make no provision for 
it? It is not credible. We must, then, either suppose, 
that some such officers as those in question were di- 
vinely appointed; or that means, acknowledged by the 
practice of all to be indispensable in conducting the best 
interests of the Church were forgotten or neglected by 
her divine Head and Lord. Surely the latter cannot 
be imputed to infinite Wisdom. 

There are some, hoAvever, who acknowledge thaS 
there ought to be, and must be, in every Chmch^ in 
order to the efficient maintenance of discipline, a plu- 
iaUty of Elders. They confess that such a body oi* 
q2 



186 



RULI^IG ELDERS^ 



bench of Elders was found in the Jewish Synagc^ve : 
that a similar Eldership existed in the primitive Church : 
and that the scriptmal government of a Christian con- 
gregation cannot be conducted to advantage without it. 
But they contend that these Presbyters, or Elders, ought 
all to be of the teaching class ; that there is no ground 
for the distinction between Teaching and Ruling 
Elders; that every Church ought to be furnished with 
thi-ee or more ministers, all equally authorized to preach, 
to administer the sacraments, and to bear mle. 

It requires little discernment to see that this plan is 
wholly impracticable ; and that if attempted to be car- 
ried into execution, the effect must be, either to destroy 
the Chuich, or to degrade, and ultimately to prostrate 
the ministry. It is w^ith no small difficulty that most 
Churches are enabled to procure and support one quali- 
fied and acceptable minister. Yery few w^ould be able 
to afford a suitable support to two; and none but those 
of extraordinary wealth, could think seriously of under 
taking to sustain three or more. If^ therefore, the prin- 
ciple of a plurahty of Teaching Elders in each Church 
were deemed indispensable ; and if a regular and ade 
quate training for the sacred office, were also, as now, 
insisted on ; and if it were, at the same time, considered 
as necessary that every minister should receive a com- 
petent pecuniary support ; — the consequence, as is per- 
fectly manifest, would be, that nineteen out of twenty of 
our Churches would be utterly unable to maintain the re- 
quisite organization, and must, of course, become extinct. 
Nay, the regular establishment of Gospel ordinances, in 
pastoral charges, would be physically possible only in a 
very few great cities^ or wealthy neighborhoods. Surely 
this cannot be the system enjoined by that Saviour who 
said—" to the poor the Gospel is preached " 



ARE NECESSARY. 



187 



The only remedy for this difficulty would be to reduce 
the preparation and acquirements for the ministry ; to 
make choice of plain, illiterate men for this office ; men 
of small intellectual and theological furniture ; depen 
dant on secular employments for a subsistence ; and, 
therefore, needing little or no support from the Churches 
which they serve. This is the plan upon which seve 
ral sects of Christians proceed ; and it is easy to see that, 
upon this plan, the feeblest Churches may have a plu- 
rality of such ministers as these, and^ indeed, any num- 
ber of them, without being burdened by their pecuniary 
support. But then, it is equally evident, that the execu- 
tion of this plan must result in degrading the ministerial 
character — and in finally banishing all well qualified 
ministers fiom the Church. They could no longer be 
" able ministers of the New Testament — workmen that 
need not be ashamed." They could no longer " give 
themselves wholly" to the labors of the sacred office. 
They could no longer " give themselves to reading," as 
well as to exhoitation and teaching. In short, the in- 
evitable consequence of maintaining, as some do, that 
there must be a hench^ that is, a jplurality of Elders, in 
every Church, for the purposes of inspection and govern 
ment, as well as of teaching ; and, at the same time, 
that all these Elders must be of the same class, that is. 
that they must all be equally set apart for teaching and 
ruling; — cannot fail to be, to bring the ministerial 
character, and, of course, ultimately, the religion which 
the ministry is destined to explain and recommend, into 
general contempt. The Sandemanians, and a few^ other 
sects, have, substantially, held the opinion, and made 
the experiment here stated ; and invariably, it is be- 
lieved, with the result which has been represented as 
unavoidable. 



188 



RULING ELDERS 



To obviate these difficulties, some have said, Let 
Deacons^ whom all agree to be scriptural officers, be 
employed to assist the Pastor in conducting the govern- 
ment and discipline of the Chorch. This proposal, 
together with some principles connected with it, will be 
considered in a subsequent chapter. All that it is deemed 
necessary or proper to say in this place is, that an en- 
tirely different sphere of duty is assigned to Deacons in 
the New Testament. No hint is given of their being 
employed in the government of the Church. For this 
proposal, therefore, there is not the shadow of a divine 
warrant. Besides, if we assign to Deacons the real 
office, in other words, the appropriate functions of 
Ruling Elders, what is this but grantiug the things 
and only disputing about tli^ title? If it be granted^ 
that there ought to be a plurahty of officers in every 
Church, whose appropiate duty it is to assist the Pastor 
in inspecting and mling the flock of Christ, it is the 
essence of what is contended for. Their proper title 
is not worth a contest, except so far as it may be proper 
to imitate the language of Sciipture. 

If, then, the maintenance of disciphne be essential 
to the purity and edification of the Church; if en- 
lightened, impartial, and efficient inspection and disci- 
pline, especially over a large congregation, cannot pos- 
sibly be maintained by the Pastor alone ; if it w^ould 
be unsafe, and probably mischievous in its influence on 
all concerned, to devolve the whole authority and respon- 
«bility of conducting the government of a Chmxh on a 
single individual ; if it would, especially, in all proba- 
oility, essentially injure the clerical character to be thus, 
systematically, made the depository of s© much power, 
without control, and without appeal; if every other 
mode of furnishing each Church wath a plurality of 



ARE NECESSARY. 



189 



rulers, besides that for which we contend, would either 
deprive a great majority of our Churches of the means 
of grace altogether; or, by bringing ministers within 
their reach, reduce and degrade the ministerial office far 
below the standard which the Scriptures require : — If 
these things be so — then we are conducted unavoidably 
to the conclusion, that such officers as those for which 
we contend, are abslutely necessary : that, although a 
Church may exist, and, for a time, may flourish without 
them ; yet, that the best interests of the Church can 
not be systematically and steadfastly pursued without 
these or some other offices of equivalent powers and 
duties. 

But all the difficulties which have been supposed, 
are obviated, and all the advantages referred to, attained, 
by the plan of employing a judicious, class of Ruling 
Elders in each Church, to assist in counsel and in 
government. In this plan we have provided a l^ody 
of grave, pious and prudent men, associated with the 
Pastor ; chosen out of the body of the Church members ; 
carrying with them, in some measure, the feelings and 
views of their constituents ; capable of counselling tlie 
Pastor in all delicate and doubtful cases; counteracting 
any undue influence, or course of measures into whicli 
his partiality, prejudice, or want of information mighl 
betray him ; exonerating him at once from the odium, 
and the temptation of having all the power of the 
Church in his own hands ; conducting the difficult 
cases which often arise in the exercise of discipline with 
the intelligence, calmness, and wisdom which cannot 
be expected to prevail in a promiscuous body of com- 
municants ; and, in a word, securing to each Church 
all the principal advantages which might be expected 
to result frorn being under the pastoral care of four or five 



190 



RULING ELDERS 



ministers, vested with plenary preaching as well a-b 
ruling power ; without, at the same time, burdening 
the Church with the pecuniary support of such a num 
ber of ordinary Pastors. In a word, the insuperable 
difficulty of doing without this class of officers, on the 
one hand ; the great and manifest advantages of hav- 
ing them, on the other ; and the perfect accordance at 
the plan which includes them, with that great repre- 
sentative system, which has pervaded all well regulated 
society, from its earliest existence, and received the 
stamp of divine approbation; — form a mass of testimony 
in favor of the office before us, which, independently ol 
other considerations, seems amply sufficient to support 
its claims. 

I shall close this chapter with the following extract 
from Dr. Oicen, when speaking of the miportance and 
necessity of the office of Ruling Elders in the Church. 

It is evident," says be, "that neither the purity nor the 
order, nor the beauty or glory of the Churches of ChrisK 
Qor tlie representation of his own majesty and authority 
in the government of them, can long be preserved with- 
out a MULTIPLICATION OF Elders IN THEM, accord- 
ing to the proportion of their respective members, for their 
rule and guidance. And foi- want hereof have Churches 
of old, and of late, either degenerated into anarchy and 
confusion, their self -ride being managed with vain dis- 
putes and janglings, unto their division and ruin; oi" 
else given up themselves unto the domination of some 
prelatical teachers, to rule them at their pleasure, which 
proved the bane and poison of all the primitive Churches; 
and they will and must do so in the neglect of this order 
for the future."* 



* Owen's Ti-ue J^ature of a Gospel Church, 4Xo. p. 178* 



ARE NECESSARY. 



191 



We have thus completed our view of the first part of 
the inquiry before us, viz.: our warrant for the office 
of Ruling Elders. If this office were found in the Old 
Testament economy;— if it plainly had a place in the 
apostolic Church; — if a number of the early Fathers evi- 
dently recognize its existence in their day; — if the Wit- 
nesses for the truth, in the darkest times, and the great 
body of the Reformers, sanctioned and retained it, as of 
divine appointment ; — if some of the most learned Epis- 
copal and Independent divines, since the Reformation, 
liave borne decisive testimony to this office, as of apos- 
tolical authority; — and if some such office be manifestly 
indispensable to the purity and order of the Church ;-— 
we may confidently conclude that our warrant for it is 
complete. 



ttiAPTCER IX. 



THE NATURE AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE. 

Having considered, so much at large, the warrant 
for the office of Ruling Elder, chiefly because there is no 
pait of the subject more contested ; we now proceed to 
other points connected with the general inquiry. And 
the first of these which presents itself is, the Nature and 
Duties of the office m question. 

The essential character of the officer of whom we 
speak is, that of an Ecclesiastical Ruler. He that 
ruleth, let him do it with diligence, is the summary 
of his appropriate functions, as laid down in Scripture = 
The Teaching Elder is, indeed, also a rider. In 
addition to this, however, he is called to preach the 
gospel, and administer sacraments. But the particular 
department assigned to the Ruling Elder is to co-operate 
with the Pastor in spiritual inspection and government. 
The Scriptures, as we have seen, speak not only of 
''Pastors and Teachers," but also of "governments;"— 
of "Elders that iTde well, but do not labor in the word 

and doctrine.'' , r 

There is an obvious analogy between the office ot 
Ruler in the Chmch, and in the civil community. A 
Justice of the Peace in the latter, has a wide and impor- 
tant range of duties. Besides the function which he 
discharges when called to take his part on the bench of 



OP THE OFFICE. 



193 



ihe judicial couit in which he presides, he may be, and 
often is, employed every day, though less publicly, in 
con-ecting abuses, compelling the fraudulent to do jus- 
tice, restraining, arresting, and punishing criminals, 
and, in general, carrying into execution the laws, 
foraied to promote public tranquillity and order, which 
he has sworn to administer faithfully. 

Strildngly analagous to this, are the duties of the 
ecclesiastical Ruler. He has no power, indeed, to em- 
ploy the secular arm in restraining or punishing offend- 
ers against the laws of Christ. The kingdom under 
which he acts, and the authority which he administers, 
are not of this world. He has, of course, no right to 
fine, imprison, or externally to molest the most profli- 
gate ofienders against the Church's purity or peace ; 
unless they be guilty of. what is technically called, 
" breaking the peace," that is, violating the civil rights 
of others, and thus rendering themselves Hable to the 
penalty of the civil law. And even when this occurs, 
the ecclesiastical ruler, as such, has no right to proceed 
against the offender. He has no other than moral 
power. He must apply to the civil magistrate for re- 
diess, who can only punish for breaking the civil law. 
Still there is an obvious analogy between his office and 
that of the civil magistrate. Both are alike an ordi- 
nance of God. Both are necessary to social order and 
comfort. And both are regulated by principles which 
commend themselves to the good sense and the con- 
science of those who wish well to social happiness. 

The Ruling Elder, no less than the Teaching Elder, 
or Pastor, is to be considered as acting under the au- 
thority of Christ, in all that he rightfully does. If the 
office of which we speak was appointed in the apostolic 
Church by infinite wisdom; if it be an ordinance of 

R 



194 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



Jesus Christ, just as much as that of the minister of 
the gospel ; then the foi-mer, equally with the latter, is 
Christ's officer. He has a right to speak and act in 
his name; and, though elected by the members of the 
Church, and representing them, in the exercise of eccle- 
siastical mle ; yet he is not to be considered as deriving 
his authority to rule from them, any more than he who 
" labors in the word and doctrine" derives his authority 
to preach and administer other ordinances, from the 
people who make choice of him as their teacher and 
guide. There is reason to believe that some, even in 
the Presbyterian Church, take a different view of this 
subject. They regard the Teaching Elder as an officer 
of Christ, and listen to his official instructions as to those 
of a man appointed by Him, and coming in his name. 
But with respect to the Ruling Elder, they are wont to 
regard him as one who holds an office instituted by hu- 
man prudence alone, and, therefore, as standing on very 
different ground in the discharge of his official duties, 
from that w^hich is occupied by the "ambassador of 
Christ," This is undoubtedly an erroneous view of the 
subject, and a view which, so far as it prevails, is adapted 
to exert the most mischievous influence. The trutl) 
is, if the office of which we speak be of apostoMc au 
thority, we are just as much bound to sustain, honor, 
and obey the individual who fills it, and discharges its 
duties according to the Scriptures, as we are to submit 
to any other officer or institution of our Divine Re- 
deemer. 

We are by no means, then, to consider RuUng El* 
ders as a mere ecclesiastical convenience, or as a set of 
counsellors whom the wisdom of man alone has chosen, 
and who may, therefore, be reverenced and obeyed, as 
little^ or as much, as humari caprice may think proper; 



OF THE OFFICE. 



195 



but as bearing an office of divine appointment, — as the 
" ministers of God for good" to his Church —and whose 
lawful and regular acts ought to command our con- 
scientious obedience. 

The Ruling Elders of each Church are called to at- 
tend to a public and formal, or to a more private 
sphere of duty. 

With regard to the first, or the public and formal 
duties of their office, they form, in the Church to which 
they belong, a bench or judicial Court, called among 
us the " Church Session" and in some other Presby= 
terian denominations, the Consist or 'i/ ; both expressions 
importing a body of ecclesiastical men, sitting and act- 
ing together, as the representatives, and for the be- 
nefit of the Church. This body of Elders, with the 
Pastor at their head, and presiding at their meetingSj 
form a judicial assembly, by which all the spiritual 
interests of the congregation are to be watched over? 
regulated, and authoritatively determined. Accord- 
ingly, it is declared in the ninth chapter of om* Form 
of Government — "The Church Session is charged 
with maintaining the spiritual government of the con- 
gregation; for which purpose they have power to in- 
quire into the knowledge and Christian conduct of the 
members of the Church; to call before them offenders 
and witnesses, being members of their own congrega- 
tion, and to introduce other witnesses, where it may be 
necessary to bring the process to issue, and when they 
can be procured to attend ; to receive members into the 
Church ; to admonish, to rebuke, to suspend, or exclude 
from the sacraments, those who are found to deserve 
censure; to concert the best measures for promoting 
the spiritual interests of the congregation ; and to appoint 
delegates to the higher judicatories of the Church." 



196 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



This general statement of the powers and duties of 
the Church Session, it ^vifl be perceived, takes in a wide 
range. Or rather, to speak more properly, it embraces 
the whole of that authority and duty with which the 
great Head of the Church has been pleased to invest 
the governing power's of each particular congregation, 
for the instruction, edification and comfort of the whole 
body. To the Chmch Session it belongs to bind and 
loose ; to admit to the communion of the Church, with 
all its privileges ; to take cognizance of all departiure. 
from the purity of faith or practice: to try, censure, 
acquit, or excommunicate those who are charged with 
offences; to consult and determine upon all matters re- 
lating to the time, place, and cii'cumstances of worship, 
and other spiiitual concerns ; to take order about cate- 
chizing childi-en, congregational Fasts or Thanksgi\Tng 
days, and all other obsei-vances, stated or occasional; 
to correct, as far as possible, eveiy thing that may tend 
to disorder, or is contrary to edification ; and to digest 
and execute plans for promoting a spiiit of inquir}-, of 
reading, of prayer, of order, and of universal holiness 
among the members of the Church. It is also in- 
cumbent on them, when the Church over vyhich they 
preside is destitute of a Pastor, to take the lead in those 
measm'es which may conduce to a choice of a suitable 
candidate^ by calling the people together for the pur- 
pose of an election, when they consider them as pre- 
pared to make it with advantage. 

xAJthough, in ordinary cases, the Pastor of the Chm-ch 
may be considered as vested with the right to decide 
whom he will invite to occupy his pulpit, either when 
he is present, or occasionally absent; yet, in cases of 
difficulty or delicacy, and especially when ministers of 
other denomijiations apply for the use of the pulpir;. 



OP THE OFFICE. 



197 



it k the prerogative of the Church Session, to consider 
and decide on the application. And if there be any 
fixed difference of opinion between the Pastor, and the 
other members of the Session, in reference to this mat- 
ter, it is tlie privilege and duty of either party to request 
the advice of their Presbytery in the case. 

In the Church Session, whether the Pastor be pre- 
sent and presiding or not, every member has an equal 
voice. The vote of the most humble and retiring 
Ruling Elder, is of the same avail as that of his Mi- 
nister. So that no Pastor can carry any measure 
unless he can obtain the concurrence of a majority of the 
Eldership. And as the whole spiritual government 
of each Church is committed to its bench of Elders, the 
Session is competent to regulate every concern, and to 
correct every thing which they consider as amiss in the 
arrangements or affairs of the Church, which admits 
of correction. Every individual of the Session is, of 
course, competent to propose any new service, plan, or 
measure, which he believes will be for the benefit of 
the congregation, and if a majority of the Elders con- 
cur with him in opinion, it may be adopted. If, in 
any case, however, there should be a difference of 
opinion between the Pastor and the Elders, as to the 
propriety or practicability of any measure proposed; and 
insisted on by the latter, there is an obvious and effec- 
tual constitutional remedy. A remedy, liowever, which 
ought to be resorted to with prudence, cautien and 
prayer. The opinions and wishes of the Pastor ought, 
undoubtedly, to be treated with the most respectfiil 
delicacy. Still they ought not to be suffered, when it 
is possible to avoid it, to stand in the way of a great 
and manifest good. When such an alternative occurs, 
the remedy alluded to may be applied. On an ami 
R 2 



198 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



cable reference to the Presbytery, that body may decide 
the case between the parties. 

And as the members of the Church Session, whether 
assembled in their judicial capacity or not, are the Pas- 
tor's Counsellors and Colleagues, in all matters relating 
to the spiritual rule of the Church ; so it is their official 
duty to encourage, sustain and defend him, in the 
faithful discharge of his duty. It is deplorable, when 
a minister is assailed, for his fidelity, by the profane or 
the worldly, if any portion of the Eldership^ either take 
part against him^ or shrink from his active and deter- 
mined defence. It is not meant, of course, that they 
are to consider themselves as bound to sustain him in 
every thing he may say or do, whether right or wrong ; 
but tliat, when they really believe him to be faithful, 
both to truth and duty, they should feel it to be their 
duty to stand by him, to shield him from the aiTOws of 
the wicked, and to encourage him,, as far as he obey?> 
Christ. 

But besides those duties which pertain to Ruling 
Elders, with the Pastor, in their collective capacity, as 
a Judicatory of the Church; there are others which 
are incumbent on them at all times, in th& interv^als of 
their judicial meetings, and by the due discharge of 
which they may be constantly edifying the body of 
Christ. It is theii- dtity to have an eye of iiispection 
and care over all the members of the congregation; 
and, for this purpose, to cultivate a universal' and inti- 
mate acquaintance, as far as may be, with every family 
in the fiock of which they are made ' ' overseers." They 
are bound to watch over the children and youth, and 
especially baptized children, with paternal vigilance, 
recognizing and affectionately addressing them on all 
proper occasions', gi\ing them, and their parents iii re- 



OP THE OFFICE. 



19^ 



terence to them, seasonable counsel, and putting in the 
Lord's claim to their hearts and lives, as the children of 
the Church. It is their duty to attend to the case of 
those who are serious, and disposed to inquire concern- 
ing their eternal interest; to converse with them, and. 
from time to time, to give information concerning them 
to the Pastor. It is their duty to take notice of, and 
admonish, in private, those who appear to be growing 
careless, or falling into habits in any respect criminal^ 
suspicious or vmpromising. It is their duty to visit and 
pray with the sick, as far as their circumstances admit; 
and to request the attendance of the Pastor on the sick^ 
and the dying, when it may be seasonable or desired. 
It is incumbent on them to assist the Pastor in main- 
taining meetings for social prayer, to take a part in con 
ducting the devotional exercises in those meetings; to 
preside in them when the Pastor is absent; and, if they 
are endowed with suitable gifts, under his direction, oc- 
casionally to drop a word of instruction and exhortation 
to the people, in those social meetings. If the officers 
of the Church neglect these meetings, (the importance 
of which cannot be estimated,) there is every reason to 
apprehend that they will not be duly honored or at- 
tended by the body of the people. It is the duty of 
Ruling Elders, also, to visit the members of the Church 
and their families, loith the Pastor, if he request itj 
without him, if he do not; to converse with them; to 
instruct the ignorant; to confirm the wavering; to cau 
tion the unwary; to reclaim the wandering; to en- 
courage the timid; and to excite and animate all classes 
to a faithfiil and exemplary dischai-ge of duty. It is 
incumbent on them to consult frequently and freely 
with their Pastor, on the interests of the flock committed 
to their charge; to aid him in forming and executing 



200 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



plans for the welfaie of the Church ; to give him, fi om 
time to time, such information as he may need, to ena- 
ble him to perfonn aright his various and momentous 
duties; to impart to him, with affectionate respect, their 
advice; to support him with theii' influence; to defend 
his reputation; to enforce liis just admonitions; and, in 
a word, by every means in their power, to promote the 
comfort, and extend the usefulness of his labors. 

Although the Church Session is not competent to 
try the Pastor, in case of his falling into any dehn- 
quency, either of doctrine or practice; yet, if the mem- 
bers observe any such delinquency, it is not only theii* 
pri\Tlege, but their duty, to admonish him, tenderly and 
jespectfuUy, yet faithfully, in private; and, if necessary, 
from time to time; and, if the admonition be without 
effect, and they think the edification of the Church 
admits and demands a public remedy, they ought to 
represent the case to the Presbyteiy, as before suggested 
in other cases, and request a rediess of the grievance. 

But the functions of the Ruling Elder are not con- 
fined to the congregation of which he is one of the 
iiilers. It is his duty at such times, and in such order 
as the constitution of the Church requires, to take his 
seat in the higher judicatories of the Church, and there 
to exercise liis official share of counsel and authority. 
In every Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church, at least as many Ruling as 
Teaching Elders are entitled to a place; and in all 
the fomier, as well as the latter, have an opportunity 
of exerting an important influence in the great concerns 
of Zion. Every congregation, whether provided with 
a Pastor or vacant, is entitled, besides the Pastor, (where 
there is one,) to be represented by one Ruling Eldei-. 
in all meetings of the Presbjtery and Synod: and as 



OP THE OFFICE. 



201 



in those bodies, vacant congregations, and those which 
are supplied with Pastors, are equally represented, each 
by an Elder, it is manifest that, if the theory of our 
ecclesiastical constitution be carried into effect, there 
w^U always be a greater number of Ruling Elders than 
of Pastors present. In the General Assembly, accord- 
ing to our constitutional plan, the numbers of each are 
precisely equal. 

In these several Judicatories the Ruling Elder has 
an equal vote, and the same power, in every respect^ 
with the Pastors. He has the same privilege of ori~ 
ginating plans and measures, and of carrying them^ 
provided he can induce a majoi ity of the body to con- 
cur in his views; and thus may become the means of 
imparting his impressions, and producing an influence 
greatly beyond the particular congregation with which 
he is connected, and, indeed, throughout the bounds of 
the Presbyterian Church in the United States. This 
consideration serves to place the nature and the impor- 
tance of the office in the strongest light. He who 
bears it, has the interests of the Church, as a spiritual 
trust, as really and solemnly, though not in all respects 
to the same extent, committed to him, as the Elder 
w^ho, " labors in the word and doctrine." He not only 
has it in his power, but is daily called, in the discharge 
of his official duties, to watch over, inspect, regulate, and 
edify the body of Christ: to enlighten the ignorant; to 
admonish the disorderly; to reconcile differences; to 
correct every moral irregularity and abuse within the 
bounds of his charge ; and to labor without ceasing for 
the promotion of the cause of truth, piety, and universal 
righteousness in the Church to which he belongs, and 
wherever else he has an opportunity of raising his yoice^ 
and exerting an influence. 



20S 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



Biit when it is considered that those who bear the 
office in question, are called uponj in their turn, to sit 
in the highest Judicatories of the Church ; and there*to 
take their part in dehberating and deciding on the most 
momentous questions which can arise in conducting 
ecclesiastical affairs: — when we reflect that they are 
called to deUberate and decide on the conformity of doc- 
trines to the word of God; to assist, as judges, in the 
trial of heretics, and every class of offenders against the 
purity of the Gospel: and to take care, in their re- 
spective spheres, that all the ordinances of Christ's house 
be preserved pure and entire: — when, in a word, we 
recollect that they are ordained for the express purpose 
of overseeing and guarding the most precious concerns 
of the Church on earth; — concerns wliich may have a 
bearing, not merely on the welfare of a single indivi- 
dual or congregation; but on the great interests of 
orthodox}^ and piety among millions; — we may smely 
conclude, without hesitation, that the office which they 
sustain is one the importance of which can scarcely be 
over-rated : and that the estimate which is commonly 
made of its natme, duties and responsibility, is far^very 
far from being adequate. 

If this view of the nature and importance of the office 
before us, be admitted, the question Yery naturally 
arises, whether it be correct to call tliis class of Elders. 
iay-Elders; or whether they have not such a stricdy 
ecclesiastical character as should prevent the use of that 
language m speakinof of them ? Tliis is one of the 
points in the present discussion, concerning which, the 
writer of this Essay frankly confesses that he has, in 
some measure, altered his opinion. Once he was dis- 
posed to confine the epitliet clerical io Teaching Eiders, 
and to designate those who j'ukd only, and did not 



OF THE OFFICE. 



203 



leach, as Z«y-Elders. But more mature inquiiy and 
reflection have led him first to doubt the correctness of 
this opinion, and finally to persuade him that so far as 
the distinction between Clergy and Laity is proper at 
all, it ought not to be made the point of distinction be- 
tween these two classes of Elders ; and that, when we 
speak of the one as Clergymen^ and the other as Lay- 
men^ we are apt to convey an idea altogether erroneous, 
if not seriously mischievous. 

Some judicious and pious men have, indeed, ex- 
pressed serious doubts whether the terms Clergy and 
Laity ought ever to have been introduced into our 
theological nomenclature. But it is not easy to see any 
solid reason for this doubt. Is it wise to contend about 
terms^ when the things intended to be expressed by 
them are fully understood, and generally admitted? 
The only question, then, of real importance to be de- 
cided here, is this — Does the New Testament draw 
any distinct hne between those who hold spiritual offices 
in the Church, and those who do not? Does it repre- 
sent the functions pertaining to those offices as confined 
to them, or a5 common to all Christians? Now, it 
seems impossible to read the Acts of the Apostles, and 
the several Apostolical Epistles, especially those to Ti- 
mothy and Titus; and to examine in connexion with 
these, the writings of the " Apostolic Fathers," without 
perceiving that the distinction between those who bore 
office in the Church, and private Christians, v/as clearly 
made, and uniformly maintained, fi*om the very origin 
of the Church. That the terms, Clergy and Laity, 
are not found in the New Testament, nor in some of 
the earliest uninspired writers, is freely granted. But 
is not the distinction intended to be expressed by these 
terms evidently found in Scripture, and in all the early 



204 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



Fathers? Nothing can be more indubitably clear. The 
titles of "Rulers" in the house of God; — "Ambassa- 
dors of Christ;" — " Stewards of the mysteries of God;" 
— "Bishops, Leaders, Ovei-seers, Elders, Shepherds, 
Guides, Ministers," (fee, as distinguished from those to 
whom they ministered, are so familiar to all readers of 
the New Testament, that it would be a waste of time 
to attempt to illustrate or estabhsh a point so unques- 
tionable. If the inspired \\Titers every where represent 
certain spiritual offices in the Church as appointed by 
God; if they represent those who sustain these offices, 
as alone authorized to perform certain sacred functions ; 
and teach us to consider all others who attempt to per- 
form them, as criminal invaders of a divine ordinance ; 
then surely the whole distinction intended to be ex- 
pressed by the term Clergy and Laity ^ is e\4dently, 
and most distinctly laid down by the same authority 
'which founded the Church. 

The word xXii^o?, properly signifies a lot. And as 
the land of Canaan — the mheritance of the Israelites, — 
was divided among them hy lot, the word, in process of 
time, came to signify an inheritance. In this figm'a- 
tive, or secondary sense, the tenn is evidently employed 
in I Peter v. 3. Under the Old Testament dispensa- 
tion, the peculiar people of God were called (Septuagint 
translation) his xX7)|o?, or inheritance. Of *this we 
have examples in Deuteronomy iv. 20, and ix. 29. 
The term in both these passages, is manifestly apphed 
to the whole body of the nation of Israel, as God's in- 
heritance, or peculiar people. Clemens Romanus^ 
one of the " Apostohc Fathers," speaking of the Jewish 
economy, and ha\dng occasion to distinguish between 
the priests and the common people, calls the latter 
Xam\. Clemens Alexandrinus, toward the close of 



OF THE OFFICE. 



206 



the second century, speaks of the Apostle John as having 
set apart such persons for " clergymen" (xX-j^^oi) as were 
signified to him by the Holy Ghost. And in the 
writings of TertuUian, Origen, and Cyprian, the 
terms "clergy" and "laity" occur ^vith a frequency 
which shows that they were then in general use. 
Jerome observes, that ministers are called Clerici. 
either because they are peculiarly the 7o^ smd portioji 
of the Lord ; or because the Lord is their lot, that is 
their inheritance. Hence that learned and pious Father 
takes occasion to infer ; — " That he who is God's portion 
ought so to exhibit himself, that he may be truly said 
to possess God, and to be possessed by Him."* 

And as we have abundant evidence that ecclesiastical 
men were familiarly called Clerici, or " Clergymen," 
from the second century ; so we have the same evidence 
that this term was employed to designate all ecclesias» 
tical men. That is, all persons who had any spiritual 
office in the Church, were called by the common name 
of Clerici, or "Clergymen." It was applied, continually 
to Elders and Deacons, as well as to Bishops or 
Pastors. Nay, in the third century, when not only 
the inceptive steps of Prelacy became visible, but when 
the same spirit of innovation had also brought in a 
number of infeiior orders; such as sub-Deacons, 
Readers, Acolyths, (fee, these inferior orders were all 
Clerici. Cyprian, speaking of a sub-Deacon, and also 
of a Reader, calls them both Clerici. The ordination 
of such persons, (for it seems they were all formally or 
dained,) he calls Ordinationes Clericce; and the letters 
which he transmitted by them, he styles Lit erce Clericce, 
The same fact may be clearly estabUshed from the 



* Epist, 2. ad jyepoiian. 5. 



206 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



writings of Ambrose, Hilary, and Epiphanius, and 
from the canons of the Council of Nice. Indeed there 
seems reason to beheve, that in the fourth and fiftli 
centuries, and subsequently, the title of Clerici was 
not only given to all the inferior orders of ecclesiastical 
men, but was more frequently and punctihously apphed 
to them, than to their superiors ; who were generally 
addressed by their more distinctive and honorable titles. 
Those who recollect that learning, during the dark ages, 
was chiefly confined to the ministers of rehgion ; that 
few, excepting persons of that profession, were able to 
read and write; and that the whimsical privilege, 
commonly called henefit of Clergy ^'^ grew out of the 
rare accomplishment of being able to read ; — ^^vill be at 
no loss to trace the etymology of the word clerk (clericus,) 
or secretary, as used to designate one who officiates as 
the reader and writer of a public body. 

To distinguish the mass of private Christians fi-om 
those who bore office in the Church, they were designated 
])y several names. They were sometimes called >.c/jxoi,— - 
laid, — laymen, iYom 'kaog, j)opulns ; sometimes j^jwtoj, 
'•private men," fi-om \biog, privatus, {Acts iv. 13.;) 
sometimes Bjwtjxoj, i. e. "seculars,^' from Bjo.c, which 
signifies a secular fife. Soon after the apostolic age, 
common Christians were frequently called av6^£g sxxXvj- 
giKjTJxoi, — "men of the Church" — i. e. persons not belong- 
ing either to Jewish Synagogues, or Pagan temples, or 
heretical bodies, but members of the Church of Christ. 
Afterwards, however, the title Ecclesiastics, became 
gradually appropriated to persons in office in the 
Church.* 

* See Stephani Thesaurus, andBiNGHA^rs Origines Ecclesi- 
asticce. 



OF THE OFFICE. 



207 



The quotations made, in a former chapter, from 
Augustine^ and the writings of some other Fathers 
about his time, in which they seem to distinguish 
between the Clergy ahd the Elders, may seem to 
mihtate with the foregoing statement. But in reference 
to these passages, the learned Voetius, while he quotes 
them, as decisive of the general fact, of the early existence 
of the Eldei's under consideration, supposes that the 
office, in the fourth and fifth centuries, was beginning 
to fall into disuse ; and that, of course, though it was 
still found in some Churches, it began to be spoken of 
with less respect, and sometimes to be denied a place 
among the offices strictly clerical^ 

But, after aU, there is no real difficulty as- to this 
point. For although the terms "clergy" and " clerical" 
were pretty generally apphed to all classes of Church 
officers, even the lowest, in the third, fourth and fifth 
centuries; yet this Avas not alioays the case. Thus in 
die Apostohcal Canons, which were probably composed 
in the fourth or fifth centuries, there is an express dis- 
tinction made between the Deacons and the Clergy. 
In the third and fourth Canons, having ordered what 
sorts of first-fruits should be sent to the Church, and 
what to the home of the Bishop and Presbyters, it 
ordains as follows:—'' Now it is manifest that they are 
to be divided by them among the Deacons and the 
Clergy P From cases of this kind we may evidently 
infer that, although all kinds of ecciesiastial officers 
were generally ranked among the Clergy^ during the 
period just mentioned, yet this was not invariably so; 
and, of course, no inference can be drawn fj om occa- 
sional diversity of expression as to this matter. 



* PoliUcce Ecclesiasticce, par. ii. Lib. ii. Tract, iii, 



208 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



Now, if this historial deduction of the titles, Clergy 
and Laity, be correct, it is plain that, according to 
early and general usage, Ruling Elders ought not to 
be styled laymen, or lay-Elders. They are as really 
in office;— they as really bear an office of divine 
appoint7?ie?it ;—Sin office of a high and spiritual 
nature; — and an office the functions of which cannot 
be rightfully performed, but by those who are re- 
gidarly set apart to it—OiS any other officer of the 
Christian Church. They are as really a portion of 
God's lot as really set over the laity, or body of the 
people as the most distinguished and venerated minister 
of Jesus can be. Whether, therefore, we refer to early 
usage,* or to strict philological import, RuUng Elders 
are as truly entitled to the name of Clergy, in the 
only legitimate sense of that term, — that is, they are 
as truly ecclesiastical officers as those who '-labor in 
the word and doctrine." 

The scope of the foregoing remarks will not, it is 
hoped, be mistaken. The author of this Essay has no 
zeal either for retaining or using the terms Clergy and 
Laity. So far as the foriner term has been heretofore 
used, or may now be intended, to convey the idea of a 

privileged order" in the Church;— a dignified body, 
lifted up, in rank and claim, above the mass of the 
Church members ; in a word, as designating a set of 
men, claiming to be vicars of Christ, keepers of the 
human conscience, and the only channels of grace- 
he disclaims and abhors it. He is a behever in no such 
meaning or men. But so far as it is intended to desig- 
nate those who are clothed with ecclesiastical office, 

under the authority of Christ, and authorized to dis- 
charge some important spiiitual functions, which the 
body of the Church members are not authorized to 



OF THE OFFICE. 



209r 



perform — and to mark the distinction between these 
two classes — the writer is of the opinion that the 
language may be defended, and that either that, or 
some other of equivalent import, ought to be used, nay, 
must be used, if we would be faithful to the New- 
Testament view of ecclesiastical office, as an ordinance 
of Jesus Chi ist. And if the term Clergy^ in this humble. 
Christian, and only becoming sense, be applied to those 
who preside in the dispensation of public ordinances; it 
may, with equal propriety, be applied to those who 
preside, with Pastors, in the inspection and rule of the 
Church. 

If any should be disposed to remark, on this subject, 
that the use of tlie term Clergy is so appropriated, by 
long established public habit, to a particular class of 
eeciesiastical officers, that there can be no hope that the 
mass of the community will be reconciled to an ex- 
tension of the title to Ruhng Elders;— the answer is- 
be it so. The writer of this volume is neither vain 
enough to expect, nor ambitious enough to attempt, a 
change in the popular language to the amount here 
supposed. But he protests against the continued use 
of the term lay-Elder, as really adapted to make an 
erroneous impression. Let the class of officers in question 
be called Ruling Elders. Let all necessary distinction 
be made by saying ;—" Ministers, or Pastors, Ruling 
Elders, Deacons, and the Laity, or body of the people.'' 
This will be in conformity with ancient usage. This 
will be maintaining every important principle. This 
can offend none ; and nothing more will be desired by 
any. 

Were the foregoing views of the nature and duties 
of the Elders office generally adopted, duly appreciated, 
and faithfully carried out into practice, what a mighty 
• s 2 



210 



NAT URE ■ AND BUT lES 



change would be effected in our Zion! With wliat a 
different estimate of the obUgations and responsibiUtieb^ 
which rest upon them, would the candidates for this 
olBce enter on their sacred work! And with what 
different feehngs would the mass of the people, and 
especially all who love the cause of Christ, regard these 
spiritual Counsellors and Guides^ in their daily walks, 
and particularly in their friendly and official visits! This 
is a change most devoutly to be desired. The interests 
of the Church are more involved in the prevalence of 
just opinions and practice in reference to this office, than 
almost any other that can be named. Were every 
congregation, besides a wise, pious and faithful Pastor, 
furnished with eight or ten Elders, to co-operate with 
him in all his parochial labors, on the plan which has 
been sketched; men of wisdom, faith, prayer," and 
Christian activity; men willing to deny and exert 
themselves for the welfare of Zion ; men alive to the 
importance of everything that relates to the orthodoxy, 
purity, order and spirituality of the Church, and ever on 
the watch for opportunities of doing good ; men, in a 
word, willing to " take the oversight" of the flock in the 
Lord, and to labor without ceasing for the promotion of 
its best interests :— Were every Church furnished with 
a body of such Elders— can any one doubt that 
knowledge, order, piety, and growth in grace, as well 
as in numbers, would be as common in our Churches^ 
as the reverse is now the prevailing state of things, in 
consequence of the want of fidelity on the part of those 
who are nominally the overseers and guides of the 
flock?' 

While discussing the nature of this office, and the 
duties which pertain to it, it seems to be natural ta 



OF THE OFFICE. 



211 



offer a few remarks on the manner in which those who 
bear it ought to be treated by the members of the 
Church ; in other words, on the duties which the 
Church owes to her Ruling Elders. 

And here the discerning and pious mind will be at 
no loss to perceive that these duties are correlative to 
those which the Rulers owe to the Church. That is, 
if they are the spiritual Rulers of the Church, and 
bound to perform daily, and with fidehty and zeal, the 
duties which belong to this station ; it is evident that 
the members of the Church are bound to recognize 
them in the same character, and to honor and treat them 
as their spirituaP guides. Were it, then, in the power 
of the writer of this volume to address the members 
of every Presbyterian Church in the United States, he 
would speak to them in some such language as the 
following : — 

Christian Brethren, 

Every consideration which has been urged to show 
the importance and duties belonging to the office oi 
Ruling Elders, ought to remind you of the important 
duties which you owe to them. Remember, at ail times, 
that they are yoLir ecclesiastical Rulers ; Rulers of your 
own choice ; yet by no means coming to you in virtue 
of mere human authority ; but in the name and by the 
appointment of the great Head of the Church, and, oi 
course, the "ministers of God to you for good." 

In all your views and treatment of them, then, 
recognize this character. Obey them "in the Lord," 
that is, for his sake, and as far as they bear rule agree- 
ably to his word. " Esteem them very highly in love 
for their works sake." And follow them daily with 
your prayers, that God would bless them, and make 



212 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



them a blessing. Reverence them as your leadersi- 
Bear in mind the importance of theii* office, the arduous 
ness of their duties, and the difficulties witli which thei 
have to contend. Countenance, and su&tain them in 
every act of fidehty; make allowance for their infirmities: 
and be not unreasonable in your expectations from them- 
Many are ready to criminate the Elders of the Church, 
for not taldng notice of particular offences, as speedily. 
or in such ma n ner^ as they expect. And this disposition 
to find fault is sometimes indulged by persons who have 
never been so faithful themselves as to give that infor- 
mation which they prossessed, respectmg the alleged 
offences ; or who, when called upor* publicly to sub- 
stantiate that which they have privately disclosed, have 
drawn back, unwilling to encounter the odium or the 
pain of appearing as accusers, or even as witnesses. 
Such persons ought to be the last to criminate Chm-ch 
oflicers for supposed negligeace of discipline. Can your 
Rulers take notice of that which never comes to their 
knowledge? Or can 3^ou expect them, as prudent men. 
rashly to set on foot a judicial and public investigation 
of things, concerning which many are ready to whisper 
in private, but none wilhng to speak with frankness 
before a court of Christ? Besides, let it be recollected, 
that the session of ahiiost every Church is sometime? 
ac^wa//^/ engaged iii investigating charges, in removing 
offences, and in composing differences, which many 
suppose they are utterly neglecting, merely because 
they do not judge it to be for edification, in all cases, to 
proclaun what they have done, or are doing, to the 
congregation at large. 

Your Elders will sometimes be called — God gi'ani 
that it may seldom occur '.—But they will sometimes 
be called, to the painM exercise of discipline. Be not 



OF THE OFFICE. 



213 



offended with them for the performance of this duty. 
Rather make the language of the Psalmist your own ; — 
" Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness ; 
and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, 
. which shall not break my head." Add not to the 
bitterness of their official task, by discovering a resentful 
temper, or by indulging in reproachfid language, in 
return for their fidelity. Surely the nature of the duty 
is sufficiently self-denying and distressing, without 
rendering it more so by unfriendly ti eatment. Receive 
theii- private warnings and admonitions with candor 
and affectionate submission. Treat their public acts, 
however, contrary to your wishes, with respect and 
reverence. If they be honest and pious men, can the}^ 
do less than exercise the discipline of Christ's house, 
against such of you as walk disorderly? Nay, if you 
be honest and pious yourselves, can you do less than 
approve of their faithfulness in exercising that discipline? 
If you were aware of all the difficulties which attend this 
part of the duty of your Eldership, you would feel for 
them more tenderly, and judge concerning them more 
candidly and indulgently than you are often disposed 
to do. Here you have it in your power, in a very 
important degree, to lessen their burdens, and to 
strengthen their hands. 

When your Elders visit your families, for the purpose 
of becoming acquainted with them, and of aiding the 
Paltor in ascertaining the spiritual state of the flock; 
remember that it is not officious intrusion. It is nothing 
more thcin their duty. Receive them, not as if you 
suspected them of having come as spies, or busy in- 
truders, but with respect and cordiality. Convince 
them, by your treatment, that you are glad to see them : 
that you wish to encourage them in promoting the best 



214 



NATURE AND DUTIES 



interests of the Church; and that you honor them for 
their fidehty. Give them an opportunity of seeing your 
children, and of ascertaining whether your households 
are making progress in the Christian life. Nay, en- 
courage your children to put themselves in the way of 
the Elders, that they may be personally known to them, 
and may become the objects of their affectionate notice, 
their occasional exhortation, and theii* pious prayers. 
Converse with the Elders freely, as with fathers, who 
"have no greater joy than to see you walking in the 
truth." And ever give them cause to retire under the 
pleasing persuasion, that their olSce is honored, that 
their benevolent designs are duly appreciated, and that 
theii' labors " are not m vain in the Lord." In short, as 
every good citizen will make conscience of vindicating 
the fidelity, and holding up the hands of the faithful 
Magistrate, who firmly and impartially executes the 
law of the land : so every good Christian ought to fee) 
hunself bound in conscience and honor, as well as in 
duty to his Lord, to strengthen the hands, and en- 
courage the heart of the spiritual Ruler, who evidently 
seeks, in the fear of God, to promote the purity and 
edification of the Church. 

The nature of the office before us also leads to anothei- 
remark, with which the present chapter will be closed. 
It is, that there seems to be a peculiar propriety in the 
Ruling Eiders (and the same principle will apply to the 
Deacons, if there be any of this class of officers in a 
congregation) haying a seat assigned them, for 
SITTING together, in a conspicuous part of the 
Church, near the Pulpit, during the pubfic service,, 
where they can overlook the whole worshipping assem 
bly, and be seen by all. The considerations which 



OP THE OFFICE, 



215 



lecommend this, are numerous. It was invariably so 
in the Jewish Synagogue. The same practice, as we 
have seen in a former chapter, was adopted in the early 
Church, as soon as Christians began to erect houses for 
public worship. This official and conspicuous accom- 
modation for the Elders is constantly provided in the 
:^utch Reformed Church, in this countr)^, and it is 
believed by most of the Reformed Churches on the 
continent of Europe. It is adapted to keep the con- 
gregation habitually reminded who their Elders are, 
and of their official authority; and also to remind the 
Elders themselves, of their functions and duties. And 
it furnishes a convenient opportunity for the Pastor to 
consult them on any question which may occur, either 
before he ascends the Pulpit, or at the close of the 
i^ervice. 



CHAPTER X. 



DISTI^'CTION BETWEEN THE OFFICES OF THE 
RULING ELDER AND DEACON. 

These offices have been so often confounded, and 
opinions attempted to be maintained which tend to 
merge the former in the latter, that it is judged proper 
to make the difference between them the subject of 
distinct consideration. 

The only account that we have in Scripture of the 
origin of the Deacon's office is found in the following 
passage, m the Acts of the Apostles vi. 1 — 6. And in 
those days, U'Jien the number of the disciples was 
multiplied, there arose a murmuriiig of the Gre 
cians against the Hehreics, because their widows 
loere neglected in the daily ministration. Then the 
twelve called the midtitiide of the disciples unto them, 
and said — It is not reason that we shoidd leave the 
word of God and serve tables. Whei^efore^ brethren, 
look ye out among you seven men, of honest report, 
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, tchom %ve may 
appoint over this business. But we ivill give our- 
selves continually to prayer, and to the ministry 
of the ivord. And the saying ])leased the whole 
midtitude; and they chose Stephen, a man full of 
faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Pro- 
chorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



217 



^nd Nicolas, a pr oselyte of Antioch: whom they set 
before the Apostles; and when they had prayed, they 
laid their hands on them. 

On this plain passage various opinions have been 
entertained. It will be to our purpose to notice a few 
of them. 

I. Some have doubted whether these were the first 
Deacons chosen by the direction of the inspired Apostles. 
The learned Dr. Mosheim supposes that the Church of 
Jerusalem, fiom its first organization, had its inferior 
ministers, in other words, its Deacons ; and that there is 
a reference to these, in the fifth chapter, of the Acts of 
the Apostles, under the title of young men, (vswts^/, 
and vsavjcrxoj,) who assisted in the interment of Annanias 
and Sapphira. He is confident that the sever! Deacons 
spoken of in the passage just cited, were added to the 
original number; and that they were intentionally 
selected from the foreign Jews, in order to silence the 
complaints on the part of the Grecians, of partiality in 
, the distribution of the offerings made for the relief of the 
poor. To this opinion there seems to be no good reason 
for acceding. The objections to it are the following : 

1. It is by no means probable that a class of officers 
of great importance to the comfort and prosperity of the 
Church, should have been instituted by divine authority, 
and yet that the original institution should have been 
passed over by all the inspired writers in entire silence. 

2. In this narrative of the election and ordination of 
the seven Deacons, there is not the most distant allusion 
to any pre-existing officers of the same character or 
functions. The murmuring spoken of, seems to have 
proceeded from the body of the Grecian, or foreign 
Christians, and to have been directed against the body 
of the native, or Hebrew Christians. 

T 



218 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



3. It is evident, from the spirit of the naiTative, that 
the appointment of these Deacons was expressly designed 
to relieve the Apostles jthemselves of a laborious service, 
with which they had been before encumbered, but which 
interfered with their discharge of higher, and more 
important duties. Surely the address of the Apostles 
would have been strange, if not unmeaning, had there 
been already a body of officers who were intrusted with 
the whole of this business; and they had only been 
solicited to appoint an additional number^ or to put a 
more impartial set in the place of the old incumbents. 

4. It is plain that these officers were not chosen from 
among the young men of the Church, as Dr. Mosheim 
seems to imagine ; nor was the office itself one of small 
trust or Hignity. The multitude were directed to "look 
out for seven men of honest report," or estabhshed 
reputation, "full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom 
and when the Apostle Paul afterwards Avrites to 
Timothy, and points out the character of those who 
ought to be selected for this office, he speaks of them as 
married men, fathers of families, distinguished for their 
gravity, men who had been ''first proved," and found 
"blameless," as orthodox, just, temperate, holy men, 
regulating their own households with firmness and 
prudence. 

5. Dr. Mosheim is not borne out by the best authorities 
in hisinterpretation of the words vswts^oi, and vs^tvicfxoi. The 
most skilful lexicographers assign to them no such official 
meaning. Besides, the nature and responsibility of the 
office, and the high quahfications for it pointed out by the 
Apostles at the time of this first choice, and required by 
the Apostle Paid afterwards, when writing to Timothy^ 
respecting proper persons to be chosen and set apart as 
Deacons ; by no means answer to the view which Dr. 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



219 



Mosheim takes of the inferiority of the office, or the 
propriety of bestowing it on young men, as the Church's 

servalits. 

&. Finally ; it may be doubted whether there had 
been any real need of the Deacon's office, until the time 
arrived, and the events occurred which are recorded in 
the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. But a short 
time had elapsed since the Church had been organized 
on the New Testament plan. At its first organization, 
the number of the poor connected with it was probably 
small. But very shortly after the day of Pentecost, the 
number of foreigners, who had come up to the feast, and 
had there been converted to the Christian faith, was so 
great, and the number of these who, at a distance from 
all their wonted pecuniary resources, and their friends, 
stood in need of pecuniary aid, had also become so 
considerable, that the task of " imparting to those who had 
need," became, suddenly, a most arduous employment. 
This had been accomplished, however, for a short time, 
under the direction of the Apostles, and without appoint- 
ing a particular class of officers for the purpose. But, 
when the foreign Jews came forward, and made com- 
plaint of partiality in this business, the Apostles, under 
the direction of heavenly Wisdom, called upon the 
"multitude" to make choice of competent persons whom 
they might appoint over this branch of Chiistian 
ministration. This appears to be a plain history of the 
case, and to resort to Dr. Mosheim^s supposition, is 
to throw a strange and perplexed aspect over the whole 
narrative. 

II. There are others who have doubted whether the 
" seven," whose election and ordination are recorded in 
the 6th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, were Deacons 
at all. They allege that the office to which they were 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEX 

chosen and set apart was a mere temporary functian. 
not designed to be a permanent one in the Christian 
Ohmch, and which, probably, did not last much if any 
longer than what is commonly caUed -'the community 
of goods,' which existed sometime after the day of 
Pentecost. 

Against this supposition, the foUowing reasons are in 
my view, conclusive. ' 

1. If this supposition were admitted, then it would 
Mow, that there is no account whatever in the 
Scriptures of the origin or nature of the Deacon's office 
i he office IS mentioned again and again in the New 
Testament : but if the naiTative m the beginnino- of the 
sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostle, be not a state- 
ment of its origin, natme and duties, we have no 
account of them any where. Can this be considered 
as probable? 

2. Is it hkely, judging on the principles, and from the 
analogy of Scripture, that a short occasional trust a 
mere temporary tmsteeship, if I may so speak, would be 
appointed with so much formahty and soleminty— 
mai-ked not only by a formal election of the people, but 
also by the prayers and -'the laying on of the hands" 
of the Apostles? mat greater solemnities attended an 
investiture with the highest and most permanent office^ 
m the Chidstian Church ? 

3. It is a well known fact, that in the Jewish Syna^ 
gogue, which was assumed a-s the model of the primitive 
Church, there was a class of officers, to whom the coUec^ 
tion and distribution of alms for the poor, were regularly 
committed. We may venture to presume, then, that the 
appointment of similar officers in the Church would be 
altogether likely. 

4- "V^hen it is considered what an important and 



jEXDERS AND DEACONS. 



221 



arduous part of the Church's duty it was, in the apostolic 
age, and for some time afterwards, to provide for the very 
numerous poor who looked to her for aid, it is incredible 
that thei-e should be no class of officers specifically sefc 
apart for this purpose. Yet if the "seven" are not of 
this class, there is no account of any such appointment 
in the New Testament. 

5. The language of some of the earlier, as well as 
the later Christian Fathers on this subject, clearly evinces 
that the^ considered the appointment recorded in the 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, now under considera- 
tion, as the appointment of Christian Deacons — and 
as exhibiting the nature of that office, and the great 
pui'pose for which it was instituted. A small speci- 
men of the manner in w4iich they speak on the sub- 
ject will be sufficient to establish this position. Hei^mas. 
one of the apostoUcal Fathers, in his Similitude, 9 — 
27, expresses himself thus ; — " For what concerns the 
tenth mountain, in^ which were the trees covering the 
cattle, they are such as have believed, and some of them 
have been Bishops, that h presidents of the Churches. 
Then such as have been set over inferior ministries, 
and have protected the poor and the widows. Origen, 
{ Tract. 16, in Matt..) evidently considered the Deacons 
as charged with the pecuniary concerns of the Church. 
^'The Deacons," says he "preside over ihemoney tables 
of the Church." And again, " Those Deacons, who do 
not manage well the money of the Churches commit- 
ted to their care, but act a fraudulent part, and dispense 
it, not according to justice, but for the purpose of en- 
riching themselves; these act the part of money-changers, 
and keepers of these tables which our Lord overturned. 
For the Deacons were appointed to preside over the 
sables of the Church, as we are taught in the Acts of 

t2,. 



222. 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN" 



the AiJostlesP Cyprian speaks (Epist. 52.) of a certain-- 
Deacon who had been deposed from his "sacred Dia 
conate, on account of his fraudulent and sacrilegious 
misapplication of the Church's money to his own 
private use ; and for his denial of the widow's and 
orphan' s^l^digQ^ deposited with him." And, in another 
place, (Epist. 3, ad Rogatia?ium,) he refers the appoint- 
ment of the first Deacons to this choice and ordination 
at Jerusalem. It seems, then, that the Deacons, in the 
days of Cyprian, were intrusted with the care of widows 
and orphans, and the funds of the Church destined for 
their rehef It is incidentally stated, in the account of 
the persecution under the emperor Decius, in the thii-d 
century, that by order of the emperor, Laurentius, one 
of the Deacons of Rome, was siezed, under the expectation 
of finding the money of the Church, collected for the 
use of the poor, in his possession. It is further stated, 
that this money had really been in his possession ; but 
that, expecting the stoim of persecution, he had distribu- 
ted it before his seizure. 

E'usebius ; (Lib. ii. cap. 1,) says;— There were also 
seven approved men ordained Deacons, through prayer 
and the imposition of the Apostle's hands," and he 
immediately afterwards speaks of Stephen as one of the 
number. Dorothceus, Bishop of Tyre, contemporary 
with Eusehius, also says; (Lives of the Prophets, <fec.,) 
■• ^Stephen, the first Martyr, and one of the seven 
Deacons, was stoned by the Jews at Jerusalem, as 
Luke testifieth in the Acts of the Apostles." " 

Ambrose, in speaking of the fourth century, the time 
m which he lived, says, ( Comment, in Ephes. iv.) " The 
Deacons do not publicly preach." Chrysostom, who 
lived in the same century, in his commentary on 
fthis very passage in Acts vi., observes, that '' the Deacon? 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



223 



had need of great wisdom, although the preaching of the 
word was not committed to them and remarks further^ 
that it is absurd to suppose that they should have both 
the offices of preaching and taking care of the poor 
committed to them,, seeing it is impossible for them to 
discharge both functions adequately." Sozomen^ the 
ecclesiastical historian, who Uved in the fifth century, 
says ; [Lib. v. cap. 8.) that "the Deacon's office was to 
keep the Church's goods." In the Apostolical Consti- 
tutions, which, though undoubtedly spurious as an 
apostolical work, may probably be referred to the fourth or 
fifth centuries,, it is recorded ; (Lib. 8, cap. 28.) " It is 
not lawful for the Deacons to baptize, or to administer 
the Eucharist, or to pronounce the greater or smaller 
benediction. Jerome, in his letter to Evagrius, calls 
Deacons " ministers of tables and widows. Oecume- 
nius, a learned commentator, who Uved several centuries 
after Jerome, in his commentary on Acts vi., expresses 
himself thus ; — "The Apostles laid theii" hands on those 
who " were chosen Deacons, not to confer on them that 
rank which they noio hold in the Church, but that they 
might, with all diligence and attention, distribute the 
necessaries of life to widows and orphans^ And the 
Council of Trullo, in the sixth century, expressly asserts. 
(Can. 16,) that the seven Deacons spoken of in the 
Acts of the Apostles, are not to be understood of such as 
ministered in divine service, or in sacred mysteries ; but 
only of such as served tables, and attended the poor. 

Another consideration, which shows, beyond contro- 
versy, that the early Christians universally considered 
the " seven" spoken of in the sixth chapter of the Acts 
of the Apostles, as the proper New Testament Deacons,, 
is that, for several centuries, many of the largest and 
mOBi respectable Churches in the world considered them 



2^ DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

selves as bound, in electing their Deacon?, to confine 
themselves to the exact number seven, whatever misht 
be their extent and their exigencies, on the avowed 
principle of contbmiity to the number of tliis clas of 
officers first appointed, in the mother Church at Jerusa- 
lem. The Council of Neocasana enacted it into a 
canon, that there should be but seven Deacons iu any 
aty, however great, because this was according to the 
nde kid do^ in the AcU of the Apostles. And the 
Church of Rome, both before and after thi. Council 
seems aL=o to have looked «rx,n that example as binding 
for It IS evident from the Epistles of Comelitis, written 
m the middle of the third centurv. that there were but 
seven Beacom in the Church of Home at that time 
though there were forty-sU Presbyters. Prudbnthis 
innmat^ that it was so in the time of Sixins aUo. in 
the year 261 : for speaking of Lai<rentius. the Deacon 
he terms him the chief of those " seven men." who had 
their station near the altar, meaning the Deacons of the 
Church. >ay, in the fourth and fifth centuries, the 
cuatom m that city continued the same, as we learn 
both from Sozmnen and Hilar!/, the Roman Deacon 
who wrote under the name of Ambrose.* 

6. The current opinion of all the most learned and 
judicious Christian Divines, of all denominations, for 
several centuries past, is decisively in favor of consider- 
ing Lhe parage in Acts vi., as recording the first ap- 
pointment of the New Testament Deacons. Amona 
bR classes of theologians, Cathohc and Protestant Lu" 
theran and Calvimstic. Presbyterian and EpL=copal 
this concurrence of opinion approaches so near to 
imammity, that we may. wither,, inj,tsTice to any other 

■ Bdsgbam's Ori^ne, EcclmaMco,, B. Li. ch. SO.sect. 19 



ELDERS AND DEACbNS. 



225 



opinion, consider it as the deliberate and harmonious 
judgment of the Christian Church. 

The very learned Juicer, a German Professor of the 
seventeenth century, in his Thesaurus Ecdesiasticus, 
(Art. Aiaxovos,) makes the following statement on this 
subject:— "In the apostolic Church, Deacons were 
those who distributed alms to the poor, and took care of 
them : in other words, they were the treasurers of the 
Church's charity. The original institution of this class 
of officers is set forth in the sixth chapter of the Acts of 
the Apostles. With respect to them, the 16th canon 
of the Council of Constantinople (in Trullo) says ; 
" They are thoseto whom the common administering 
to poverty is committed; not those who administer 
the sacraments. And Aristinus, in his Synopsis of 
the Canons of the same Council, canon 18th, says ; "Let 
him who alleges that the seven^of whom mention ismado 
in the Acts of the Apostles, were Deacons, know that 
the account there given is not of those who administer 
the sacraments, but of such as "served tables." Zonaras. 
ad Canon. 16, TruUanum. p. 145, says, those who by 
the Apostles were appointed to the Diaconate, were not 
ministers of spiritual things, but ministers and dis- 
pensers of meats. Oecumenius also, on the 6th chapter 
of the Acts of the Apostles, says:— They laid their hands 
on the Deacons who had been elected, which office was 
hy no means the same with that lohich obtains at the 
present day in the Church (i. e. under the same name;) 
but that with the utmost care and diligence, they might 
distribute what was necessary to the sustenance of 
orphans and widows." 

From these considerations, I feel myself warranted in 
concluding with confidence, that the " seven," chosen 
at JerusalemyiQ "serve tables," were scriptural Deacons, 



226 DIFFERENCE BETNTEEX 

actT!h n T"""^ '^or.sec^uence of admitting tWs 
fact, IS whoUy destitute of support. 

in. A third opinion held by some on thL= subject fe 
.ha^^ although the passage recorded in the be^n^ 
of the sixd. chapter of the Acts of the ApoZT^n 
amount of the appointment of Xe.'^e^ent 
D^ons; and though their pnmary function t^t 
fake care of the poor, and "ser^-e tables:-- vet that the 

^PP^dutiesof their officewereafterwarLe" 
Thu. the Prelatu^ts say, that PkUip: one of the '-sevL • 

^ound soon ailer his appointment as Deacon, prelh- 
mg and baptmng. Hence they infer that thei func- 
tions of nght pertain to the Deacon s office, and have 
belonged to tt from the begim^ing. On the mher hand 
^e Independents say, that the word Deacon, accordi 
to Its Greek etymolog.-, means mimster or servant : 
that this general term may cover a large lield of ecclesi- 
astical ser^^ce: and that New Testament Deacons were 
probably,at first intended, and now ought tobe employed" 
to assist the Pastor in counsel and government, as weli 
as in serving the Lord's table, and attending to the rehef 
of the poor. And even some Presbvterians have ex- 
pressed the opmion, that our Ruling Elders were a kind 
of Deacons in dkgmse, and ought so to be considered 
and called: and that there ought not to be. and cannot 
be, consistently with Scripture, any office bearer. char<red 
with the duty of assisting the PasWr in counsel ^d 
rule, other than the Deacon. 

I am fully persuaded that thk is an erroneous opinion 
It appears to me manifest, not only that it is inconsistent 
with the tormof government ofthePresbvterian Church- 
but, what IS a much more serious difficultv. that it i= 
altogether irreconcileable with the ^-ew■Testainent. For 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



227 



1. An attentive and impartial perusal of the record of 
this first institution of Deacons, mr,st convince any one, 
that preaching, baptizing, or partaking in the spiritual 
rule and government of the Church, were so far from 
being embraced in the original destination of the New 
Testament Deacon, that they were all absolutely pre- 
cluded, by the very terms, and the whole spirit of the 
representation given by the inspired historian. The 
thing complained of by the Grecian beMevers, are, not 
that the preaching was detective, or that the govern- 
ment and discipline of the Church were badly man- 
aged. Not a hint of this kind is given. The only com- 
plaint was, that the poor " widows had been neglected;" 
in other words, had not had the due share of attention 
to their wants, and of rehef from the Church's bounty. 
To remove all cause of complaint on this score, the 
seven" were chosen and set apart. The sphere of duty 
to which they were appointed, was one which the 
Apostles declared they could not fulfil without leaving 
THE WORD OF GoD TO SERVE TABLES."* "They say, 
therefore, to the members of the Church," look ye out 
seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and 
of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this busi- 



* It has been supposed by many that the phrase, serving 
tables,^' in the history of the institution of the Deacon's office, 
had a reference either to the Lord's table, or to overseeing- and 
supplying the tables of the poof^ or perhaps both. But I am 
inclined to believe that this is an entire mistake. The word, 
T^st^s^A^ signifies, indeed, a table ; but, in this connexion, it 
seems obviously to mean a. money-table^ or a counter , on which 
money was laid. Hence t^^^s^^mc a money-changer, or money 
merchants See Matt. xiCi. 12. xxv. 27. Mark xi. 15. Luke xix. 
23. The plain meaning, then, of Acts vi. seems to be this ; — 

It is not suitable that we should leave the word of God, and 
devote ourselves to pecuniary affairs." 



228 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



NESS," i. e. over the "serving of tables." "And we will 
give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the 
WORD." Now, to suppose that these very Deacons were 
appointed to officiate in "the ministry of the word and 
prayer," is an inconsistency, nay an absurdity, so glaring, 
that the only wonder is how any one can possibly adopt 
it after reading the passage in question. If the object 
had been to adopt a supposition fitted to exhibit the 
Apostles, and the " multitude" too, as acting hke insane 
men, or children, one more directly adapted to answer 
the end, could not have been thought of 

2. The circumstance of Philip, sometime after his 
appointment as Deacon, being found preaching and 
baptizing, in Sam^aria, and other places, does not 
afford the smallest presumptive evidence against this 
conchision. Soon after his appointment to the diaconate 
in Jerusalem, the members of the Church in that city 
were chiefly " scattered abroad by persecution." Philip 
was, of course, driven from his residence. Now, the 
probability is, that about this time— seeing he was a 
man "full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom," and 
therefore, eminently quahfied to be useful in preaching 
the gospel, he received a new ordination as an Evan- 
gelist, and in this character went forth to preach and 
baptize. He is expressly called an "Evangelist," by 
the same inspired writer who gives us an account of his 
appointment as a Deaconj; (Acts xxi. 8.) UntH it can be 
proved, then, that he preached and baptized as a Dea 
con, and not as an Evangelist, the supposition is 
utterly improbable and altogether worthless. It is really 
an imposition on credulity to uige it. And that cer~ 
tamly never can be proved as long as the sixth chapter 
of the Acts of the Apostles remains a part of the inspired 
volume. As to Stephen, another of the " seven," dis 



ELDERS AND DEACONS, 



22^ 



puting with gainsayers in private, and defending him- 
self before the Council; it was not official f reaching 
at all. It was nothing more than every professing 
Christian is at all times not only at liberty, but under 
obligation to do, when assailed by unbelievers, or when 
brought before an unjust tribunal. 

The tmth is, the practice of connecting theiunctions 
of preaching and baptizing with, the Deacon's office, 
is one of the various human inventions ^vhich early 
began to spring up in the Church, and which turned 
almost every ecclesiastical office which had been divinely 
instituted more or less from its primitive character. ' ' But 
from the beginning it was not so.^' It is a departure 
from the apostolical model. We find, indeed, in several 
of the writers of the first three or four centuiies, frequent 
intimations of Deacons being permitted to preach, and 
administer the ordinance of baptism. But in almost 
every instance, it is represented as done in virtue of a 
specific permission from the Pastor or Bishop in each 
case J and as entirely unlawful without such permission. 
A very different thing from a function inherent in an 
office, and always lawful when a proper occasion for its 
exercise occurred! In fact, ecclesiastical history, I believe, 
will bear me out in saying, that, within the first three 
centuries, it would be just as correct to assert that private 
Christians in general had a right to preach and baptize, 
as to maintain that Deacons, in virtue of their office as 
such, had this right, because we meet with some instan- 
ces of theii- being both called upon to do so in cases of 
supposed necessity, or when specially permitted by 
superior ecclesiastics. Mr. Bingham, the learned Epis- 
copal antiquary, explicitly tells us, on the authority of 
several early wiiters, that private Christians, who sus 
tained no office whatever in the Church, were sometimes 
u 



230 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



called upon to address the people, in the absence, or at 
the special request of him whose official duty it was to 
preach. The same learned author goes on to state, 
that, in the apostolic age, or as long as the special gift? 
of the Holy Spiiit, enabhug men to prophesy, continued, 
all who possessed such special gifts, whether in office or 
not, iTiight use " the word of exhortation" in the Church. 

But then," he adds, "as such extraordinar}^ gifts of the 
Spirit of prophecy, were ni a manner peculiar to the 
apostohcal age, this could not be a rule to the following 
ages of the Church. And, therefore, when once these 
gifts were ceased, the Church went prudently by another 
rule, to allow none but such as were called by an ordi 
nary commission to perform this office, except wjiere 
some extraordinary natmal endowments (such as were 
in Origeii before his ordination) answering in some 
measure to those special gifts, made it proper to gi'ant a 
license to laymen to exercise their talents for the benefit 
of the Church. Or else, when necessity imposed the 
duty on Deacons ,to perform the office of preaching, 
when the Bishop and Presbyters were by sickness, or 
other means, deban-ed from it. For the aforesaid author 
[Ambrose) plainly says, that Deacons, in his time, were 
not ordinarily allowed j[?r6Ec?icare in populo, i. e. preach 
to the people, as being an office to which they had no 
ordinary commission. And the same is said by the 
author of the Apostolical Constitutions, and many 
others. Therefore, since Deacons were not allowed 
this power, but only in some special cases ; it is the less 
to be wondered at, that, after the ceasing of spiiitual gifts, 
it should, generally, be denied to laymen.^'* 

A mistake on this point, in reference to the Deacon's 



" Bikgham's Origines EcdenasticoR^ B. 14. Ch. 4. sect. 4. 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



231 



office,hasarisenfrommisinteiT)retingcertaintermswhich 
are used by some of the early wiiters to express their 
public service. The words x^^uyf^a, xyi^u|, xvj^utftfw, &c. 
are frequently used in the New Testament to express 
the public preacher and preaching of the gospel. Now, 
when the same words are applied by some of the earlier 
Greek Fathers, and the corresponding words, prcBCO, 
prcEdicatio and prcedicare, by the Latins, to the 
Deacon's office, it has been hastily concluded that they 
were, habituaUy, preachers, in the New Testament 
sense of the term. But the truth is, as every one in the 
least degree acquainted with those writers, knows, these 
terms, when used by the Fathers, signify an entirely 
different thing. The Deacons, in the third, fourth 
and fifth centuries are every where represented as the 
common heralds or criers of the Church.— That is, 
when any public notice was to be given ; when the 
catechumens or the penitents were to be called upon 
aloud to come forward, or to withdraw; or when any 
public proclamation was to be made, in the course of 
the service in the Church;— it belonged to the Deacon's 
office to perform this duty. Hence he was called the 
xyj^ul, or crier, and was said xTiputfrfsiv, to cry aloud, or 
make proclamation. It belonged to the Deacons, 
also, to keep order at the doors, when- the service 
was beginning ; to see that the worshippers were seated 
in a quiet and orderly manner ; to stand around the 
communion table, when it was spread, and with fans 
made either of dried sTiins, or peacocks feathers, to keep 
off the flies from the consecrated elements ; and, after 
the consecration of the sacramental elements, to bear 
them to the communicants. These, and a variety of 
subordinate duties, were considered as pertaining to their 
office, and hence they were regarded, not as having any 



'^^^ DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

part of the priesthood, according to the language of that 
day ; but as being the " Church's servants." All this is 
so explicitly acknowledged, and so abundantly proved 
by the learned Bingham, {Origines Ecclesiastics, 
Book 11. Chap. 20, and Book xiv. Chap. 4,) that any 
further enlargement on the subject is altogether unne- 
cessary. The original office of the Deacon was one of 
liigh trust and dignity; requiring much piety, wisdom, 
pradence and diligence. But when the purity of the 
Church, both in doctrine and practice, declined, and 
especiaUy, when the ardor of her charity to the poor 
had greatly slackened, that officer, havmg little to do in 
his appropriate department, sunk, for a time, into a kind 
of ecclesiastical menial. 

3. The diiections afterwards giv,en by Paul to Ti 
mothy,{l Tim. iii.) respecting the proper qualifications, 
of candidates for the Deacon's office, are decLsively op- 
posed to the view of the subject which I am now 
examining. When the Apostle speaks of the qualifica- 
tions mdispensable in a Teaching Elder, or Bishop he 
says they must not only be grave, pious, and of good' 
report, but also "apt to teach," (fee. But he pre- 
scribes no such condition in the choice of Deacons. He 
gives no intimation that teaching made any part of 
their official work. It is said, indeed, that they ought 
to be men " holding the mystery of the faith in a pure 
conscience." By which 1 understand to be meant, that 
they must be men holding the true faith in sincerity : 
m other words, that they must be 'orthodox, and pious: 
qualifications which ought to be found in all who bear 
office in the Church of God. 

4. We have not the least evidence, from any source, 
that the function of government was ever connected 
With, the Deacon's office. We read of Ruling Elders 



ELDERS AND DEACONS- 



233 



but never of Ruling Deacons. Among all the multi- 
plied witnesses drawn from the Synagogue and the 
Church, and from almost all denominations of Chris- 
tians, ancient and modern, in favor of a bench of Elders 
in each congregation for conducting its government and 
discipline, I recollect no example of the members of that 
bench being called Deacons, or of Deacons having any- 
place among them. Nay, it is perfectly manifest, that 
if, according to the scriptural model, there ought to be a 
bench or college, made up of a plurality of Elders in 
each Church, to be intrusted with the inspection and 
rule of the whole body; then there is not a shadow of 
evidence to support the claim of the Deacons to a seat 
in that body. But if such a bench of Rulers, under 
the name of Elders, or PreshijterSy be given up; 
then, I will ventui e to assert, there is not a shied of 
evidence either in or out of the Bible, that similar 
powers were ever assigned to Deacons, as such. We 
may, indeed, call our RuHng Elders, by the name of 
Deacons, if we please. And so we may call them 
Dervises or Imams, with the Turks; and say that 
we mean, by these titles, to designate the members of 
the parochial Presbytery, or Consistory, in each Church. 
But the real questions which present themselves for so- 
lution are such as these: — Is it agreeable to the New 
Testament model, that there be in every Christian 
congregation, a plurality of pious and prudent men, 
invested with the office of inspection and government 
in the Church ? Or, ought all ecclesiastical authority 
and discipline to be exercised by the Pastor alone? If 
the former be admitted, then, ought this body of spiri- 
tual rulers to be styled Elders or Deacons 1. If the 
latter name be contended for, as the more scriptural 
then what passage of Scripture, or of eajly uninspired 



234 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



history, can be mentioned, which countenances the ap 
phcation of this title to ecclesiastical rulers, as such? 
The truth is, it is not perceived how any can consis- 
tently maintain, that the officers whom Presbj-terians 
are wont to caU Ruling Elders, are really Deacons, and 
ought to be so designated, without abandoning the 
Church Session, as destitute of all scriptural warrant. 
He who does this, however, must hold, either that the 
Pastor of each Church has the whole government and 
discipline in his own hands, and that the persons called 
Elders, or Deacom, are only a set of convenient ad- 
visers, without any rightful judicial authority; or that 
all authority ought to be exercised by the body of the 
communicants, and ever}^ question of admission or dis- 
ciphne submitted to their vote. In the latter case, he 
may be a very pious and excellent Independent; but 
he has no claim to the character of a Presbyterian. 

It is deeply to be regretted, that the office of Deacon, 
in its true nature, and its highly important and scrip- 
tural character, is not to be found in many Presbyterian 
Churches. In some, this office is wholly dropped 
Neither the name nor the thing is to be found in them. 
In others, the Ruling Elders, or the members of the 
Church Session, are constantly styled Deacons, and 
scarcely ever designated by any other title; while the 
office really indicated in Scripture by that title is not 
retained. And in a tliird class of our Churches, those 
who are meant for real Deacons, that is, who are 
chosen and set apart as such, as well as called by that 
name, are employed in functions for which the office of 
Deacon was never instituted. The cases, it is feared, 
are few in which the offices of Elder and Deacon are 
both retained, and the appropriate functions of each 
distinctly maintained. 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



235 



Perhaps in a majority of our Churches the office of 
Deacon, strictly so called, is entirely dropped. This, it 
is believed, is also virtually the case, to a considerable 
extent, in the Church of Scotland, and among the large 
and I'espectable body of Presbyterians in the North of 
Ireland. The origin of this extensive disuse of an un- 
questionable scriptural office, is probably to be traced to 
the peculiar form of the provision made in those coun- 
tries for the support of the poor, which was supposed to 
render the diaconate, as a separate office, unnecessary. 
Deacons had a place in the original organization of the 
Protestant Church of Scotland; and, for many years 
after the Reformation, were universally retained and 
much employed in that Church, as a distinct class of 
officers. But, in later times the office has either been 
suffered to fall into disuetude altogether, or, as is more 
common, has been united with that of Ruling Elder, 
in the same individuals. So that the Ruling Elders 
in the Church of Scotland, are generally expected, and 
undertake, to act as Deacons also. The same arrange- 
ment, it is believed, is also generally adopted among the 
Presbyterians in Ireland. 

As to those Churches in our own country in which 
the office of Deacon has been suffered to fall into disuse 
altogether, this event is certainly, on a variety of ac- 
counts, to be regretted : — among others, for the following 
reasons. 

1. Every scriptural precedent is worthy of serious 
regard. The office of Deacon was evidently brought 
into the Church by inspiied men. And although it is 
not contended that it is essential to an organized 
Church to have officers of this class, inasmuch as the 
Church, undoubtedly, did without them, for a short 
time, after its first organization; yet as the office is an. 



236 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

institution of infinite wisdom, and necessary to a full 
array of all the offices which belong to the visibleChurch 
It seems expedient to retain it, in all cases in which it 
IS possible. 

2. We know that, in every Jewish Synagogue, before 
the coming of Christ, there was a class of officers whose 
peculiar duty it was to collect and dispense the monies 
contributed lor the support of the poor. This seems to 
have been an invariable part of the Synagogue system. 
And as that system was evidently the model on which 
the Christian Church was formed, we may presume 
that a feature of it so strongly recommended by age 
and experience, is worthy of adoption. 

3. Although some Churches may plead in excuse 
for discontinuing the use of this office, that they have no 
Church poor, and, therefore, no occasion for the appro- 
- priate services of Deacons ; yet the question is, ought 
they to allow this to be the case? What though the 
laws of the State make provision of a decent kind for 
all the poor ? Are there not commonly within the 
bounds, and even among the communicants, of every 
Church of any extent, and of the ordinary standing in 
point of age, generally found a greater or less number 
of persons who have seen more comfortable days, but 
are now reduced ;— aged widows; persons of delicate, 
retiring spirits, who are strugglmg with the most severe 
privations of poverty m secret, but cannot bring them- 
selves to apply to the civil officer for aid as paupers: 
who, at the same time, would be made comparatively 
comfortable by a pittance now and then administered 
m the tender and affectionate spirit of the gospel? Now 
ought the Church to take no measures for searching 
out such members, who are not, and cannot be reached 
by the legal provision, and kindly ministering to theii 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



237 



comfort ? But if there be no class of officers whose 
appropriate duty it is to make this whole concern an 
object of their attention, it will too often be neglected, 
and thus the interest of Christian charity seriously 
suffer. It is not a sufficient answer to this argument 
to say, as those who philosophize on the subject of 
pauperism, say, and, to a certain extent, with great 
truth, that this very provision would probably invite 
apphcation, and perhaps, in some instances, induce im- 
proper reliance upon it, to the neglect of economy and 
diUgence. Supposing this, in some degree, to be the 
case ; would it not be better to relieve some portion of the 
poverty brought on by improvidence, than to allow 
humble, tender piety to pine in secret, unpitied, and 
unrelieved, under the pressuie of that helpless penury, 
which was induced by the hand of a sovereign God? 
Nay^ is no pity, no active symphathy due from the 
Church even to uidigence notoriously induced by sin? 
The considerations which have been suggested, furnish ^ 
indeed, a good argument for having Deacons of suitable 
character; — men of piety, wisdom, benevolence, practical 
acquaintance with the world, and with human nature^ 
who would be likely to perform their duty with discern- 
ment, prudence, and unfeigned Christian charity, cau- 
tiously guarding against the evils to which the relief 
they are commissioned to bear is exposed; but no 
argument at all against affording such reUef when 
really needed. 

4. It is a great error to suppose that Deacons cannot 
)3e appropriately and profitably employed in various 
other ways besides ministering to the poor of the Church 
They might, with great propriety, be made the mana 
gers of all the money-tables, or fiscal concerns of each 
congregation ; and, for this purpose, might be incorpora- 



f 



238 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 

ted, if it were thought necessary, by law, that they might 
be enabled regularly to hold and employ aU the property 
real and personal, of the Church. But, even if it we^e 
thought inexpedient that a board of Deacons should be 
aUowed thus to supersede the boards of "Trustees," 
which are, at present, commonly employed to manao^e 
each ecclesiastical treasury; still there are veryimportant 
services in reference to pecuniary concerns, which they 
might manage, and which, it is beheved, would be 
greatly beneficial to the C^hurch if they Were considered 
as at all times bound to manage, and should actually 
manage with wisdom, energy and zeal. I refer to the 
Church's contributions to the various gieat objects of 
Ohnstian enterprise which distinguish the present day. 
That these contributions to the cause of the Bible; of 
Missions, foreign, and domestic; of Sabbath Schools; 
and of the various othei- Christian and benevolent un' 
dertakings for promoting knowledge, vixine and hap- 
piness, temporal and eternal, among men, ought to be 
contmued, and greatly increased,— no one who looks 
nito the Bible, or who knows any tiling of the Chris- 
tian spmt, can for a moment doubt. It is quite evident, 
too, that these contributions ought to be perfectly 
voluntary, and that any attempt to render them other 
mse, would be both unscriptural and mischievous. But 
would It not tend to render the whole business of hbe^ 
mhty to the cause of Christ more regular, more easy, 
more abundant, and ultimately more productive, if it 
were placed under the enhghtened advice, and wi^e 
management of six or eight Deacons in each Church^ 
Suppose the Pastor and the Elders of every congrega- 
tion to be animated with a proper spirit on this subject 
and to be habitually uttering and diffusing proper 
sentiments; and suppose the whole business of collecting 



• 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 239 

the contributions, and paying them over to the respective 
treasuries for which they were destined, were devolved 
on the Deacons, as an executive board, who might call 
to their aid, and would really confer, as well as receive 
a benefit, by calling to their aid, in the details of collec- 
tion, a number of active, pious sub-agents? Can any 
one doubt that the contributions of the Churches would 
be more systematic, more regular, more conveniently 
received, better proportioned, and a part, at least, and^ 
in some cases, a large part, of the expenses paid to 
travelling agents, saved for the cause of Christ? The 
truth is, an enlightened, active, pious board of Deacons 
might place this whole subject on such a footing, and 
when they had gotten it fairly arranged, and under way 
might manage it in such a manner, as without adding 
in the least degree to the burdens of the people, would 
render their contributions more productive, as well as 
more easy and economical in every part of their ma- 
nagement. 

With respect to the mode of disposing of the Deacon's 
office adopted extensively in our sister Churches of 
Scotland and Irelmid* and in a few instances, in this 
country, namely, laying it on the Ruling Elders, and 
uniting both offices in the same individuals— it is, 
undoubtedly, liable to very strong objections, as will 
appear from the following considerations. • 

1. One office is quite enough to be borne by the same 
person ; especially an office so important, so responsible, 
so abundantly sufficient to employ the heart, the hands, 



* The same mixture o\ offices has also long existed, it is be- 
lieved, in the Church of Geneva, {See Le Mejicier's, Ch. 
Hist, of Gen. p. 214. 



240 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



and the time of the most active and zealous, as that of 
the RuUng Elder. However pious, wise, and unwearied 
he may be, he' will find the worii pertaining to his office 
as Elder, enough, and more than enough, especially in 
this day of enlarged Christian activity, to put in requi- 
sition all his powers. Why, then, add another office to 
one aheady occupied, if he be faithful, to the utmost 
extent of his faculties ? Similar remarks may be made, 
to a considerable extent, concerning the Deacon's office. 
It is enough, when faithfully discharged, to occupy all 
the leisure time of the most active and faithful incum- 
bent. Both certainly cannot be undertaken by the same 
individual, without some of the duties pertaining to one 
or the other being neglected. 

2. Where there are suitable candidates for office 
among the communicants of a Church, it is commonly 
wise to distribute offices as extensively among them as 
circumstances ^vill conveniently admit. If, indeed, 
there be a dearth of proper materials for making ecclesi- 
astical officers, the difficulty must be surmounted in the 
best way that is practicable. But if there be individuals 
enough to sustain it, the diffusion of office power among 
a considerable number, is so far fiom being an evil, that 
it is manifestly, and may be highly, advantageous. It 
brings a greater number to take an interest in the affairs 
of theC^hurch. It makes a greater numbei* intimately 
acquainted with the concerns of the Church. And by 
calling a greater number to pray, and speak and act in 
behalf of the Church, it tends to promote the spiritual, 
and, it may be, the everlasting benefit of them and 
their children. Why, then, heap a plurality of offices 
upon a single person ? It is depriving the Church of a 
manifest advantage ; and may be the means of depri 



£)LDERS AND DEACONS. 



241 



ving the individuals themselves of both comfort and 
edification. 

3. If there be not an absolute imom'p at ability be 
tween the offices of Ruhng Elder and Deacon, there is at 
least, such an interference between their respective du- 
ties,asis certainly undesirable, and ought by all means to 
be avoided. There is a colHsion in this case analogous to 
that which takes place when a man visits the sick in the 
double character of a physician and a minister of the 
Gospel. For although, in many cases, the duties and 
services of each character may happily harmonize, and 
help one another ; yet, perhaps, in many more, it will 
appear to the discerning eye that they had better be 
separated. When an Elder, as such, goes forth to the 
discharge of his official duties, it is to promote the spi- 
ritual interest of the flock of which he is made one of 
the " overseers." To this purpose it is important that 
he should have the most unreserved and confidential 
access to all the members of the flock, and their chil- 
dren ; and that nothing should be allowed to intervene 
which was adapted to disguise the feelings, to divide 
the attention, or to clog the operations, of either party. 
But if, when this Elder visits the poor, for the sake of 
benefiting their souls, they receive him with smiles, with 
apparent cordiality, and with much pious talk, chiefly 
for the concealed purpose of increasing the allowance 
which, as Deacon, he may be disposed to minister 
to them :— or, when he visits them as a Deacon, they 
feel jealous, or alienated, on account of some supposed 
deficiency in that allowance, and, of course, in some 
measure close their minds against him as their spiritual 
guide :— or, when the mind of the Presbyter-Deacon 
himself becomes divided and perplexed between the 
rival claims of these two classes of duties^ less good is 



242 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 



done ; less pure unniingled feeling exercised ; and less 
comfort enjoyed on either side.* 

On all these accounts, the two offices in question, as 
they are entirely different in their natui-e, ought, un- 
doubtedly, to be separated in practice, to be discharged 
by different persons, and to be carefully guarded against 
that interference which is adapted to render both less 
useful. 

We are led, then, by the foregoing facts and argu- 
ments, to the following conclusions : — 

1. That the Deacon is a divinely instituted officer, 
and ought to be retained in the Church. 

2. That the function to which the Deacon was ap- 
pointed by the apostles, was to manage the pecmiim y 
affairs of the Church, and especially to preside over 
the collections and disbursements for the poor. 

3. That Deacons, therefore, ought not only to be men 
of piety, but also of judgment, pmdence, knowledge of 
the world, and weight of character. 

4. That preachwg was not, in the primitive Church, 
any part of the Deacon's duty,, but came in, among 
other human innovations, as corruption gained ground 

5. That there is no warrant whatever for assign- 
ing to Deacons the function of government in the 
Church ; and that their undertaking any such function, 
is nothing less than ecclesiastical usurpation. 

6. That confounding the office of Deacon with that 
of Ruling Elder, is an unwarranted confusion, both of 
names and offices, which are entirely distinct. 

7. That even the uniting of these two offices in the 



* See this subject treated in a striking" manner, and at con- 
siderable length, m Dr. Chalmers' Christian and Civic Eco- 
nomy of Large Towns. Vol. i. chapter vii. 



ELDERS AND DEACONS. 



243 



cjame persons, is by no means advisable, and tends 
materially to impair the comfort and usefulness of both.. 

8. That Deacons ought to be ordained hy the im- 
position of hands. In this ordination the hands of the 
Pastor and of the Eldership ought to be laid on. I 
know not the shadow of a reason why this solemnity 
should be omitted. The venerable Dr. Dwight, in his 
System of Theology, when treating on this office of 
Deacons, unequivocally declares his conviction that the 
laying on of hands ought always to be employed in 
setting them apart ; and pronounces the omission of it 
to be " incapable, so far as he knows, of any defence." 
The disregard of scriptural example in the omission, is 
as painful, as it is obvious and unquestionable. 

9. That the Deacons, although they ought always, 
if possible, to be present at the meetings of the Church 
Session, for the sake of giving information, and aiding 
in counsel, can have no vote as Church Rulers ; and. 
^lerefore, cannot give their voice in the admission or 
exclusion of members, or in any case of ecclesiastical 
discipline. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE QUALIFICATIONS PROPER FOR THIS OFFICE. 

The account which has been given of the nature 
and duties of the office of Ruling Elder, is adapted to 
reflect much light on the qualifications by which he 
who bears it ought to be distinguished. Those who 
are called to such extensive, interesting and highly im- 
portant spiiitual duties; duties which enter so deeply 
into the comfort and edification of the Church of God;— 
It surely requires no formal argument to show, ought to 
possess a character in some degi-ee coiTesponding with 
the sphere in wliich they are appointed to move. There 
cannot be a plainer dictate of common sense. Yet to 
attempt a brief sketch of the more important of the 
qualifications demanded for this office, may not be alto- 
gether unprofitable. 

And here, it may be observed, in the outset, that it is 
by no means necessary that Ruling Elders should be 
aged persons. For, although it cannot be doubted that 
the title is, hterally, expressive of age; and although it 
is equally certain, that, originally, the office was gene- 
rally conferred on men somewhat advanced in life, as 
being most hkely, other things being equal, to possess 
wisdom, prudence, experience, and weight of charac- 
ter ; — yet the term, from a very early period, came to be 
a mere title of office, without any respect to the years 



THIS OFFICE. 



245 



of the individual who bore it. This is evident, not only 
from the history of Jewish practice, but also from the 
statements of the New Testament. If Timothy was 
not merely a Ruling, but also a Teaching Elder, though 
so young a man, that the Apostle said, to him, — Let 
no man despise thy youth; and if, in every age of the 
Church, young men have been considered as quahfied 
on the score of age, to be Elders that labor in the 
loord and doctrine^ as well as rule; there can be no 
doubt that young men, if otherwise well qualified, may 
with propriety be appointed Elders to assist in ruling 
the Church of God. Nay, where such persoiis^ with 
other suitable qualifications are to be found, it is ea^pe- 
dient to introduce some in younger life into the Elder- 
ship of every Church, not only that there may be 
individuals in the body fitted for more active duties ; 
but also that some of the number may have that kind 
of official training, and that famiharity with ecclesiasti- 
cal business, which early experience, and long habit 
alone can give. 

It may be remarked, however, that, although neither 
Scripture, nor the Constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church, prescribes any ab^lute rule with respect to the 
age of those who may be considered as candidates for 
the Eldership ; yet it is very manifest, that those who 
ai e either minors in age, or " novices" in the Christian 
character and profession, ought by no means, in ordi- 
nary circumstances, to be elected to this office. In the 
Chu]'ch of Scotland^ the rule is, that no one can be 
chosen an Elder who is not twenty-one years of age. 
A similar regulation, it is believed, exists in some other 
foreign Churches; and it may be considered as a dictate 
of common prudence. 

But, though the circumstance of age^ as a general 
x2 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR 



iiile, does not enter into the essential qualifications 
Ruling Elders; there are other qualifications which 
are highly unportant, and, indeed, indispensable. These 
.are stated by the inspired Apostle, in writing to Timo- 
thy, in the following comprehensive, and pointed lan> 
guage : — An Elder must be blameless, the husband 
of one wife, having faithful children; one that ru- 
leth well his own house, having his children in sub- 
jection with all gravity ; not accused of riot, or 
unruly ; not self-willed ; not soon angry ; not given 
to %oine; 7io striker ; not given to filthy lucre ; but a 
lover of hospitality ; a lover of good men; sober, just, 
holy, temperate, sound in the faith, in charity, in 
patience. See Timothy iii. compared with Titus i. 6 — 
8, and ii. 2, which passages evidently appear, on tracing 
the connexion, to be equally applicable to Teaching 
and Riding Elders. 

The design of appointing persons to the office of 
Ruling Elder is, not to pay them a compliment; not 
to give them an opportunity of figuring as speakers in 
judicatories; not to create the pageants of ecclesiastical 
ceremony; but to secure able, faithful and truly devoted 
counsellors and rulers of the Church. To obtain wise 
and efficient guides, who shall not only go along with 
the flock in their journey heavenward, but go before 
THEM in every thing that pertains to Christian duty. 

It cannot be doubted, indeed, that every member of 
the Christian Church is bound to exhibit a holy, devout 
and exemplary fife; to have his mind well stored with 
religious knowledge ; to be able to give an answer to 
every one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in 
him ; and to avoid every thing that is criminal in itself, 
that may be just cause of offence to his brethren, or that 
may have even the appearance of evil. But it is equally 



THIS OFFICE. 



247 



manifest that all these qualifications are still more im- 
portant, and required in a still higher degree, in those 
who are intrusted with the spiritual inspection and re- 
gulation of the Church. As they occupy a place of 
more hmor and authority than the other members of 
the Church ; so they also occupy a station of greater 
responsibility. The eyes of hundreds will be upon 
them as Elders^ which were not upon them as private 
Christians. Their brethren and sisters over whom 
they are placed in the Lord, will naturally look up to 
them for advice, for instruction, for aid in the spiritual 
life, and for a shining example. The expectation is 
reasonable, and ought not to be disappointed. The 
qualifications of Elders, therefore, ought, in some good 
measure, to correspond with it. 

1. An Elder, then, ought, first of all, to be a man 

OF UNFEIGNED AND APPROVED PIETY. It is tO be 

regretted when the piety of any member of the Church 
is doubtful, or evidently feeble and wavering. It is 
deplorable when any who name the name of Christ 
manifest so much indecision in their profession; so 
much timidity and unsteadiness in theii- resistance to 
error and sin ; so much conformity to the world ; and 
so little of that undaunted, ardent, and thorough ad- 
herence to their professed principles ; — as to leave it 
dubious with many, whether they are "on the Lord's 
side" or not. But how much more deplorable when 
any thing of this kind appears in those who are appoint- 
ed to watch, to preside, and to exert an extensive in- 
fluence, over a portion of the family of Christ ! What is 
to be expected, when " the watchmen on the walls of 
Zionf^ — for such Ruling Elders are undoubtedly to be 
regarded — appear cl-s beacons ^io warn private Christians 
of what ought to be avoided, rather than as models^ tc* 



248 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR 



guide, to attract, and to cheer them on to all that is 
spiritual, and holy, and becoming the gospel? 

Can he who is either destitute of piety, or who has 
but a small portion of it, engage in the arduous and 
deeply spiritual duties of the Ruling Elder, with comfor( 
to himself, or with any reasonable hope of success? It 
cannot be supposed. To fit ecclesiastical Rulers for 
acting in their appropriate character, and for performing 
the work which pertains to it, with cordial diligence'', 
faithfulness and perseverance, will require cordial and 
decisive attachment to the service of the Church ; minds 
intent upon the work ; hearts filled with love to Jesus, 
and to the souls of men; and preferring Jerusalem 
cthove their chief joy. Unless they are animated with 
this afifectionate interest in their work; unless they are 
habituaUy impeUed by an enlightened and cordial at- 
tachment to the great cause in which they are engaged, 
they will soon become weary of their arduous and self- 
denying labors ; they will find waiting on the flock, 
visiting and praying with the sick, instructing the serious 
and inquiring, correcting the disorderly, watching over 
the spiritual interests of all, and attending the various 
judicatories of the Church, an irksome task. But with 
such a zeal as has been described, they will be ready to 
contend for the truth, to engage in the most self-denying 
duties, nay, to " spend and be spent," for Christ. To 
promote the best interests of Zion will be their meat 
and drink." No labors, no trials, no difficulties will 
move them; neither will they count their li^es dear 
unto themselves, so that they may finish their course 
with joy, and accomplish the work lohich they have 
received of the Lord Jesus. A few such Elders in 
every Church, v/ould, with the divine blessing, do more 
to silence infidehty,— to strike even the scorner dumb..--- 



THIS OFFICE. 



249 



to promote the triumph of gospel truth, — and to rouse, 
sustain and bear forward the cause of vital piety, than 
hundreds, of those Ministers and Elders, who act as if 
they supposed that supplying the httle details of an eccle= 
siastical formality was the whole purpose of their official 
appointment. And, in truth, we have no reason to 
expect, in general, that the piety of the mass of members 
in any Church, will rise much higher than that of their 
Rulers and Guides. Where the latter are either lifeless 
formalists, or, at best, but " babes in Christ," we shall 
rarely find many under their care of more vitality, or, of 
superior stature. 

2. Next to piety, it is important that a Ruling Elder 
be possessed of good sense, and sound judgment. 
Without this, he will be wholly unfit to act in the vari- 
ous difficult and dehcate cases which may arise in thc 
discharge of his duty. A man of a weak and childish 
mind, however fervent his piety, is by no means adapted 
to the station of an ecclesiastical Ruler, counsellor and 
guide. He who bears the office in question, is called 
to have intercourse with all classes of people ; to engage 
in the most arduous and trying duties ; and to dehberate 
and decide on some of the most perplexing questions 
that can come before the human mind. Can it be 
doubted that good sense, and solid judgment are indis- 
pensable to the due discharge of such official work as 
this? How would a judge on the bench, or a magis- 
trate in his office, be likely to get along without this 
qualification'? Much more important is it, if possible, 
that the ecclesiastical .Ruler be enlightened and judi- 
cious ; because hfe deliberates and decides on more 
jnomentous subjects ; and because he has no other than 
moral power with which to enforce his decisions,. 
Moses, therefore, spoke the language of good sense, as 



250 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR 



well as of inspired wisdom, when he said to the people 
of Israel {Deut. i. 13.) Take ye wise men, and 
UNDERSTANDING, and kuowu amoYig your tribes, 
and I will make them Rulers over ym. This point, 
indeed, it would seem, can scarcely be made more plain 
than common sense makes it ; and might, therefore be 
considered as foreclosing all illustration ; did not some 
Churches appear disposed to make the experiment, how 
far infinite wisdom is to be believed, when it pronounces; 
by the Prophet, a wo against those who make choice 
of hahes to rule over them. 

3. A Ruling Elder ought to be sound in the faith, 

AND WELL informed IN RELATION TO GOSPEL 

TRUTH. The Elder who is not orthodox in his creed, 
instead of contributing, as he ought, to build up the 
Church in the knowiedge and love of the tmth, will, of 
course, he the means of scattei ing eiTor, as far as his 
influence extends. And he who is not well informed 
on the subject of Christian doctrine, will not know 
whether he is promoting the one or the other. Ac- 
cordingly, when this class of ofiicers is ordained in our 
Church, we call upon them to do what we do not re- 
quire from the private members of the Church, viz., 
solemnly and publicly to adopt the Confession of Faith, 
''as containing the system of doctrine taught in the 
Holy Scriptures." When this is considered ; and also 
that they are expected to be, to a certain extent, instruc-^ 
tors and guides in divine things to many of those com- 
mitted to their oversight ; and, above all, that they will 
be often called to deliberate on charges of heresy, as well 
as immorahty; and to sit in judgment on the doctrinal 
belief, not only of candidates for admission into the 
Church, as private members; but also on cases of 
alleged aberration from the truth in ministers of the 



THIS OFFICF. 



251 



gospel; the necessity of their being "sound in the faith," 
and of their having enlightened and clear views of the 
system of revealed truth, is too plain to need argument 
for its support. 

The truth is, the Ruling Elder who is active, zealous 
and faithful, will have occasion, almost every day, to 
discriminate between truth and error; to act as a 
guardian of the Church's orthodoxy; to pass his judg- 
ment, either privately or judicially, on real or supposed 
departures from it; and to instruct the inexperienced 
and the doubting in the great doctrines of our holy re- 
ligion. And although all Elders are not expected to 
be 'profound theologians^ any more than all ministers; 
yet that the former, as well as the latter, should have 
a general and accurate acquaintance with the gospel 
system, and be ready to defend its leading doctrines, by 
a ready, pertinent, and conclusive reference to scriptural 
testimony, and thus be able to "separate between the 
precious and the vile," in theory as well as in practice, 
is surely as little as can possibly be demanded of those 
Avho are placed as leaders and guides in the house of 
God. 

4. Again ; an Elder ought to be a man of eminent 
PRUDENCE. By prudence here is, of course, not meant, 
that spurious characteristic, which calls itself by this 
name, but which ought rather to be called timidity, or 
a criminal shrinking from duty, on the plea that " there 
is a lion in the way." Yet, while we condemn this, as 
unworthy of a Christian, and especially unworthy of a 
Christian Counsellor and Ruler ; there is a prudence 
which is genuine, and greatly to be coveted. This is 
no other than practical Christian wisdom^ which not 
only discerns what is right, but also adopts the best 
mode of doing it ; which is not at all inconsistent with 



252 



atALIFICATIONS FOR 



firmness, and the highest moral courage; but which 
happily regulates and directs it. It has been often 
observed, that there is a right and a wrong way of doing 
the best things. The thing done, may be excellent in 
itself; but may be done in a manner, at a time, and at- 
tended with circumstances, which will be likely to dis- 
gust and repel, and thus prevent all benefit. Hence a 
man who is characteristically eccentric, undignified, 
rash, precipitate, or indiscreetly talkative, ought by no 
means to be selected as an ecclesiastical ruler. He will, 
probably, do more mischief than good ; will generally 
create more divisions than he heals; and will rather 
generate offences than remove them. Perhaps there is 
no situation in human society which more imperiously 
calls for delicacy, caution, reserve, and the most vigilant 
discretion, than that of an ecclesiastical Kuler. If popu- 
lar rumor begin to charge a Church member with 
some delinquency, either in faith or practice; let one of 
the Elders, under the notion of being faithful, implicitly 
credit the story, go about making inquiries respecting 
its truth, winking and insinuating, and thus contributing 
to extend its circulation ; and however pure his motives, 
he may, before he is aware, unphcate himself in the 
charge of slander, and become so situated in respect to 
the supposed culprit, as to render it altogether improper 
that he should sit in judgment on his case. The maxim 
of the wise man ; " be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow 
to wrath"— appies to every human being; especially to 
every professing Christian; but above all to every one 
who is appointed to maintain truth, order, purity, peace 
and love in the Church of God. 

It requires much prudence to judge when it is proper 
to commence the exercise of discipline against a supposed 
offender. Discipline is an important, nay, a vital matter, 



THIS OFFICE. '^^^ 

ni the Christian Church. But it may be commenced 
indiscreetly; vexatiously; when that which is alleged 
cannot be shown to be an offence against the divine 
law or when, though a really censurable ofience, there 
h no probability that it can be proved. To attempt th^ 
exercise of discipline in such cases, is to disgrace it ; to 
convert it, from one of the most important means of 
^race, into an instrument of rashness, petulance, and 
childish precipitancy. Often, very often, has the very 
name of discipline been rendered odious, the peace oi 
families and neighborhoods giievously disturbed the 
influence of ecclesiastical judicatories destroyed, and the 
cause of rehgion deeply wounded, by judicial proceedmgs, 
which ought either never to have been commenced, or 
to which the smallest measure of prudence would have 
given a very different direction. 

The importance of the subject constrains me to add, 
that prudence— much prudence is also imperiously de-- 
manded, in the exercise of a dignified and cautious re- 
serve while ecclesiastical process is pending. One great 
reason why it is thought better, by Presbyterians, to 
exercise discipline rather by a bench of wise and pious 
ecclesiastical Senators, than by the vote of the whole 
body of Church members, is, that the public discussion 
and decision of many things concerning personal cha- 
racter, which the exercise of discipline necessarily dis- 
.closes, respecting others, as well as the culprit, is adapted 
in many cases, to do more harm than good, especially 
before the process is closed. To guard against this 
evil, it is very important that the Elders carefully avoid 
all unseasonable disclosures in respect to the business 
which may be at any time before the Session, Until 
they have done what shall be deemed proper, in a deh- 
cate case, it is surely unwise, by thoughtless blal)bing, 



354 aUALIFICATIONS FOR 

to throw obstacles in their own way, and perhaps to de- 
leat the whole purpose which they have in view Yen. 
how often, by one imprudent violation of this plain rule 
has the disciphne of the Church been degraded or frus- 
trated, and the character of those who administered it 
exposed to ridicule ! 

These, and simUar considerations, serve clearly to 
show, that no degiee of piety can supersede the necessity 
of prudence in ecclesiastical rulers; and that, of aU 
characters m a congregation, an indiscreet, meddling- 
garmlous, gossipping, tatthng Elder, is one of the mmi 
pestiferous. 

5. It is important that an Elder be " of good report 
OF THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT." The ciicumstance 
of h:s being chosen to the ofiice by the members of the 
Church, does, indeed, afford strong presumption that he 
sustains, among^Amao unexceptionable character. But 
It IS also of great importance that this class of officers 
as well as those who " labor in the word and doctrine 
should stand well with those who are toithout, as well 
as those who sxe within the pale of the Christian com- 
mumty. The ecclesiastical ruler may often be called 
in discharging his official duties, to converse vdih the 
worldly and profane, who have no particular regard 
either for his Master, or his office. Nay, he musrbe, 
almost every day that he lives, the object of the scrutiny 
of such men. In this case, it is peculiarly desirable 
that his personal character be such as to command uni- 
versal respect and confidence; that it be not liable to 
any particular suspicion or imputation ; but that, on the 
contrary, it possess such weight and respectability in 
the commumty, as will render him an aid and a blessing 
to his ecclesiastical connexion. To this end,Jiis un- 
bending integrity in all the walks of life : his spotless 



THIS OFFICE. 



255 



probity and honor in every pecuniary transaction ; his 
gravity and dignity in all the intercourse of society ; 
his exemplary government of his own family; his 
abstraction hom all unhallowed conformity to the 
world;— ought to present, in some good measure, a 
pattern of Christian consistency. It is saying little in 
favor of a Church officer, to allege that his reputation is 
such that he does no harm to the ecclesiastical body 
with which he is connected. It is to be regretted, if he 
do not promote its benefit every day by his active services, 
and extend its influence by the lustre of his example. 

6. A Ruling Elder ought to be a man of public 
SPIRIT AND ENLARGED VIEWS. He who is Called by 
his official duty to plan and labor for the extension of 
the Redeemer's kingdom, surely ought not, of all men, 
to have a narrow and illiberal mind; to be sparing of 
labor, parsimonious in feeling and habit, or contented 
with small attainments. It is eminently desirable, then^ 
that a Ruling Elder be a man of expanded heart toward 
other denominations, as far as is consistent with entire 
fidelity to scriptural truth and order; that he aim high 
in spiritual attainment and progress ; that he be willing 
to give much, to labor much, and to make sacrifices for 
the cause of Christ ; and that he be continually looking 
and praying for the further enlargement and prosperity 
of Zion. Such a man will not be willing to see the 
Church fall asleep, or stagnate. Such a man's mind 
will be teeming with desii-es, plans and prayers for the 
advancement of the Saviom's cause. Such a man will 
not content himself, nor be satisfied to see others con- 
tenting themselves, with a little round of frigid formalities^ 
or with the interests of a single parish: — but the aspira- 
tions of his heart, and the active efforts of his hfe will 
be directed to the extension and prosperity of the Church 



2o6 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR 



ill all its bordei s, and to the universal establishment and 
triumph of that gospel which is " the power of God 
unto salvation to eveiy one that beheveth.'^ 

The qualification of which we speak has been, in all 
ages, and from the nature of the case, must ever be, of 
inestimable importance in every Ruler and Guide of the 
Church. But we may venture to pronounce that it never 
was so important to theChmxh that she should have sudi 
Hulers as it is at the present day. Now, that she is awak- 
ing fi-om her slumber, and arousing to a sense of her long 
forgotten obligations : now that she is, as we hope, aris- 
ing from the dust, and putting on her beaUtifiil gar- 
ments,"' and looking abr.oad in the length and breadth 
of those conquests which have been promised her, by her 
Almighty Head : now that all her resources, physical and 
moral, are called for, in every direction, with an emphasib- 
and a solemnity, never before equalled :— is it not mani- 
fest that all who, in such a stage of her course, undertake 
to be her counsellors and guides, ought to be neither 
drones nor cowards; neither parsimonious of labor and 
sacrifice, nor disposed to sit down contented ^\dth small 
acquisitions ? Ruhng Elders, at the present day, have, 
perhaps, an opportunity of serving the Church more 
extensively and effectually than ever before. How 
desirable and important, then, that they have a heart 
in some measure, commensurate with the calls and 
opportunities of the day in which their lot is cast ! How 
desirable that they cherish those enlarged and liberal 
views both of duty and of effort, which become those 
who are called to act a conspicuous and interesting part 
in a cause which is dear to all holy beings ! So impor- 
tant is this, that it is probable we shall generally find 
that, in liberahty of contribution to the various objects of 
Chri^ian effort, and in enlargement of mind to desire. 



THIS OFFICE. 



257 



aad seek the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, the 
mass of the members of any Church may commonly be 
graduated by the chai-acter of their Elders. If the 
leaders and guides of the Church be destitute of public 
spirit, and be not found taking the lead in large plans, 
labors and sacrifices for extending the reign of know- 
ledge, truth and righteousness; it will be strange indeed 
if a more enlarged spirit be found prevailing among 
the generality of their fellow members. 

7. The last qualification on which I shall dwell, as 
important in the office before us, is ardent zeal, and 

A SPIRIT OF IMPORTUNATE PRAYER. Large vicWS, 

and liberal plans and donations, will not answer without 
this. The truth is, the Church of God has the most 
serious and unceasing obstacles to encounter, in every 
step of her progress. As long as she. is faithful, her 
course is never smooth or unobstmcted. In mamtain- 
ing truth ; — in guarding the claims of gospel hohness ; — 
and in sustaining discipline— the enmity of the human 
heart will not fail to manifest itself, and to offer more or 
less resistance to that which is good. The worldly and 
profane will ever be found in the ranks of determined 
opposition. And alas ! that some who bear the name 
of Christ, are not unfiequently found in the same ranks ; 
thus grievmg the hearts, and trying the patience of 
those who are called to act as the representatives and 
leaders of the Church. To meet and overcome diffi- 
culties of this kind, requires all the fixedness of pur- 
pose, and all the zeal in the service of Christ, which 
his most devoted servants can bring to their work. 

Besides all this, there is much in the daily duties of 
the Ruling Elder, which puts to a very serious test all 
his devotedness to the cause of his Master. He is called 
to live, like a minister of the gospel, in the very atmosK 
2 Y 



258 



QUALIFICATIOXS FOR 



phere of prayer and religious conversation. In the 
chamber of the sick and dying ; in conversing with the 
anxious inquiier, and the perplexed or desponding be- 
liever ; m the private ciicle, and in the social meeting 
for prajw; abroad and at home, in the house and by 
the way — it must be his meal and drink" to be found 
ministering to the best interests of his fellow men. So 
that, if he have but Uttle zeal ; but httle taste for prayer : 
but httle anxiety for the welfare of immortal souls; 
he w^iil not, he cannot, enter with proper feehng into 
his appropriate employments. But if he be animated 
with a proper spirit, he wiE find it pleasant to be thus 
employed. Instead of shunning scenes and opportu- 
nities of usefulness, he will diligently seek them. And 
instead of finding them wearisome, he will- feel no hap- 
piness more pm-e and rich than that which he^ expe 
riences in such occupations as these. 

It is evident, then, not only that the ecclesiastical 
Ruler ought to have imfeigned piety; but that his 
piety ought to be of that decisive character, and accom- 
panied with that fervent zeal, which bears its possessor 
forward, ^^^ithout weariness in the discharge of self-de- 
njing duties. The higher the degree in w^hich he pos- 
sesses this characteristic, provided it be accompanied 
with wisdom, prudence, and a knowledge of human 
nature, the greater vnH probably be his usefulness in 
the Church Vvhich he serves ; and the greater, assuredly, 
will be his own personal enjoyment in rendering that 
service. 

It is more than possible that this view of the qualifi 
cations proper for the ofiice which we are considering, 
may cause some, when sohcited to undertake it, to draw 
back, under the conscientious impression, that they have 
not the characteristics which are essential to the faith 



THIS OFFICE. 



fill discharge of its duties. And it would be wrong to 
say that there are not some cases, in which such an 
impression ought to be admitted. There can be ho 
doubt that there are those who bear this office, who 
ought never to have accepted it. To th^ clsss, unques- 
tionably, belong all those who have no taste for the 
appropriate duties of the office, and who do not resolve 
sedulously and faithfully to perform them. But let no 
humble, devoted follower of Jesus Christ, who truly 
desires to seiTe and glorify him, and who is willing, 
from the heart, to do all that God shall enable him, for 
the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom ;— let not 
him be deterred, by the representation which has been 
given from accepting the office, if called to it by his 
Christian brethren. The deeper his sense of his own 
unfitness, the more hkely will he be to apply unceasingly 
and importunately for heavenly aid ; and the nearer he 
lives to the throne of gTace, the more largely will he 
partake of that wisdom and strength which he needs. 
There are, no doubt, some, as was said, who are really 
unquahfied for this office ; but in general, it may be 
maintained, that those who have the deepest impression 
of the importance and arduousness of its duties, and of 
their own want of adequate qualifications, are far better 
prepared for those duties, than such as advance to the 
discharge of them v/ith unwavering confidence and 
self-complacency. 



CHAPTEH XII. 



ON THE ELECTION OF RULING ELDERS. 

Under this general head, a variety of questions 
occur, the solution of which is important. 

1. In the FIRST place, who are the jproper Electors 
of RuUng Elders ? This question is not definitely re - 
solved by the " Form of Government" of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States. Its language is as follows : 
" Every congregation shall elect persons to the office of 
Ruling Elder, and to the office of Deacon, or either 
of them, in the mode most approved and in use in that 
congregation. But in ail cases the persons elected must 
be male members in full communion in the Church in 
which they are to exercise their office." 

When a new Church is to be organized, and when, 
of course, there ate no Elders already in office, application 
ought to be made to the Presbytery, stating the wishes 
of those who contemplate forming the Church, requesting 
then- sanction, and also the appointment of one or more 
of their number to preside in the election and ordination 
of the candidates for the respective offices of Elders and 
Deacons. The person or persons thus appointed by the 
Presbytery to act in the case, after causing due and 
regular notice of thek appointment and its object, to be 
given, ought to meet with the members of the congre- 
gation ; to preach on the subject which occasions the 
meeting J to explain the nature and importance of the 



RULING ELDERS. 



261 



office ; and, having done this, to call upon those who 
may be qualified as electors, to give their votes for such 
of their number as they vt^ould wish to have as their 
spiritual rulers. Having done this openly, in the face 
of the congregation, the Ordination of the Elders elect, 
may either take place on the spot, before the assembly 
shall separate ; or may be postponed to a future time, 
as may be judged most expedient. By this is meant, 
that the election in this case, being made immediately 
by a popular vote of the members of the Church, there 
is no need of postponing the ordination, for the purpose 
of propounding the names of the persons elected, from 
the pulpit, as is necessary, and practised in otlier cases. 
In the case supposed, the fuU concurrence of the persons 
entitled to vote in the choice made, has been already 
ascertained by theii* suffrages. 

In this choice, the votes may be given either viva 
voce, or by ballot. The latter method, however, is by 
far the most common, and, is evidently the most proper, 
for a variety of reasons, some of which will readily 
occur to every enlightened and delicate mind. 

Concerning the persons who are properly entitled to 
vote in such an election, there has been some diversity 
of opinion. That all the male members of the Church, 
in what is called "full communion," have this right^ 
there can be no question. In this, all are agreed. But 
it has been maintained, not, indeed, with the same 
unanimity, yet, it is beheved, by a large majority of the 
most judicious and enhghtened judges, and probably on 
the most correct principles, that all baptized members 
of the Church, who must be, of course, regarded as 
subject to the government and discipHne administered 
by these Rulers, are entitled to a voice in their election. 
And where there are female heads of families^ who 



262 



ELECTION OF 



bear the relation of membership to the Church, in either 
of the senses just mentioned, and who are not represented 
by some quahfied male relative, on the occasion, it has 
been judged proper to allow them to vote in the choice 
of Ruling Elders, as is generally the case in the choice 
of a Pastor. 

There seems, however, to be some good reason for 
restricting the right to vote for Ruhng Elders within 
narrower bounds, than are commonly assigned in the 
choice of a Pastor. In that choice, in most congrega- 
tions, all pew-holders^ and all stated ivorshippers 
who are stated contributors to the support of the Pastor, 
in their just proportion, whether baptized or not, whether 
willing to submit to the exercise of discipline or not, and 
whether of fair moral character or not, are considered 
as entitled to a vote. But, in the election of a Pastor, 
there is one security against an improper choice, which 
does not exist in the case of a Ruling Elder ; namely, 
that the call must be submitted to the Presbytery, and 
receive the sanction of that body before it can be prose-^' 
cuted. Whereas no such security exists in the case of 
a Ruling Elder. Of course, if all pew-holders, and 
pecuniary supporters, without any reference to member- 
ship or character, were allowed to vote in the election of 
the latter class of officers, they might choose persons to 
the last degree unsuitable for the office, and adapted to 
destroy rather than benefit the Church. Besides ; 
every one, however^ heterodox or immoral, may be a 
stated attendant on public worship : — and every stated at- 
tendant on the worship of any Chuixh, may be said to 
have an interest in the character of the Pastor, and a 
right, as far as may be, to be pleased in the choice. 
But no one can be said to have any part, or particular 
interest in the discipline of the Church, excepting those 



RULING ELDERS. 263 

wlio are subject to its operation; which can be the case 
with none but those who are members of the Church, 
Accordingly, the General Assembly of our Church 
which met in 1829, in answer to a question solemnly 
referred to it by one of the Western Presbyteries,*— 
adopted, and sent to the Churches the following judg= 
ment in relation to the subject before us. " It is the 
opinion of this General Assembly, that the office of 
Ruling Elder is an office in the Church of Christ ; that 
Ruling Elders, as such, according to our Confession of 
Faith, Book i., no Government, Chapter v., are the repre- 
sentatives of the people, by whom they are chosen, for 
the purpose of exercising government and discipline in 
the kingdom of om- Lord Jesus Christ ; that the disci- 
phne lawfully exercised by them, is the discipline ex~ 
ercised through them by their constituents, in whose 
name, and by whose authority they act in all that they 
do.t To suppose, therefore, that an unbaptized person, 
not belonging to the visible kingdom of the Redeemer, 
might vote at the election of Ruling Elders, would be 
to establish the principle, that the children of this world 
might, through their representatives, exercise discipline 
in the Church of God ; which is manifestly unscriptural, 

^ * The question submitted was in these words—" Ought an 
unbaptized person, who yet pays his proportion for the support 
of a congregation, to be permitted to vote for Ruling Elders ?" 

t It is well known that the General Assembly, in this clause 
of their judgment, did not mean to deny that Ruling Elders, in 
the rightful discharge of their duties, act in the name and by 
the authority of Christ. This great truth is plainly recognized 
m a precedmg clause. But merely to say, that they act as 
the representatives, and on the behalf of the members of the 
Church at large ; so that when a complaint is brouo-ht to the 
Eldership, It is, strictly speaking, according to ancient Tanguaffe. 
'Celling it to the Church." 



ELECTION OF 



and contfaiT to the standards of our Church. Resolved^ 
therefore, tlmt the question in the said overture be an- 
s\vered in the negative." 

Where there is aheady an existing Church Session, 
and the object is to add to the number of its members, 
in this case the election of new Elders may be made in 
any one of several methods : — either by the vote of the 
members of the Church at large, as already stated ; or 
by a nomination on the part of the existing Elders, 
proposed to the Church, and considered as thek choice, 
if not objected to ; or by the nomination of double the 
number proposed to Idc chosen, by the Session, and a 
choice by the members of the Church out of the list so 
nominated. 

In the Church of Scotland "new Elders are chosen 
by the voice of the Session.* After their election has 
been agreed upon, their names are read from the pulpit, 
in a paper called an Edict, appointing a day, at the 
distance of not less than ten days, for their ordination. 
If no member of the congregation offer any objection 
upon that day; or if the Session find the objections 
that are offered frivolous, or unsupported by evidence, 
the minister proceeds in the face of the congregation, to 
ordain the new Elders."t 



* In the infancy of the Reformed Church in Scotland, the 
mode of electing Ruling Elders was by no means uniform. In 
some Churches, the existing Session made a nomination to the 
Church members, out of which a choice was made by the latter. 
In other Churches, the choice was made immediately by the 
communicants at large. In some Churches, the Session ap- 
pointed electors; and in others, they acted as electors them- 
selves. It was a number of years before the practice stated 
above as the prevalent one, become geneiaL M'Crie's 
Life of Melville, ii. 477, 478. 

+ Hill's Institutes. Part ii. Section 4th, 212, 213. 



RULING ELDERS. 



265 



The same method of adding new Elders to existing 
Church Sessions, is adopted, in substance, by many 
Presbyterian Churches in the United States.* The 
Church Sessions, in these congregations, judge when i( 
is proper to make an addition to the number of Elders;* 
deliberate on the proper candidates ; ascertain privately 
whether they will serve if appointed ; and after com 
pleting, with due consultation and care, their lists, 
cause them to be announced by their moderator, from 
the pulpit, on several successive sabbaths ; — after which 
at the proper time their ordination takes place. This 
plan of choosing has some real advantages. When 
■ msely executed, it - may be supposed likely to lead to o 
more calm, judicious and happy choice, than would 
probably result from a popular vote, especially where 
no consultation and understanding had taken place 
among the more grave, pious and prudent of the Churcli 
members. And, therefore, where this plan has been 
long in use, and unanimously acquiesced in, it had, 
perhaps, better not be changed. Yet it seems to be 
more in harmony with the general spirit of Presbyterian 
Church government, and certainly with the prevailing 
character of our institutions, to refer the choice, where il 
can conveniently be done, after due consultation and 
care, to the suffrages of the members of the Church. 

Accordingly, the General Assembly .of our Church. 



=^ It is hardly necessary to say, that when the Church 
Session, in any such congreg-ation, shall be considered as 
unduly delaying to make a suitable addition of new Elders to 
their number, it is the privilege of the members of the Church, 
after due application and remonstrance to the Session, withouf 
effect, to apply to the Presbytery for the redress of their 
alleged grievance. 

z 



266 



ELECTION OF 



which convened m in reply to a complaint made 
respecting the mode of electing Elders adopted in one 
of the Churches under the care of the Presbytery of 
Philadelphia, pronounced the following judgment. 

' hile the assembly would l ecognize the undoubted 
right of each congregation to elect their Elders in the 
mode most approved and in use among them, they 
would recommend that, in all cases where any dissatis- 
faction appears to exist, the congregation be' promptly 
convened, to decide on their future mode of election. 
And they are mclined to believe that the spiiit of our 
constitution would be most fully sustained by having, 
in all cases, a dij-ect vote of the congregation in the 
appointment of their Elders." 

In the Church of Holland, the -following is the 
general iiile in regard to the election of this^'class of 
officers :— The Elders shall be chosen by the suffrages 
of the Consistory, and of the Deacons. In makhig 
this choice, it shall be lawful, as shall best suit the 
situation of each Church, either to nommate as many 
Elders as shaU be judged necessary for the approbation 
of the members in full communion, and upon their 
being approved, and fomid acceptable, to confirm them 
with public prayers and engagements : or, to propose a 
double number, that the one half of those nominated 
may be chosen by the members, and in the same 
manner confirmed in their ofiice." Accordingly, in that 
country, although an election by the members of the 
Chm-ch sometimes takes place : yet the common method, 
it is believed, is for the Consistory, or Eldership of the 
Church, together w4th the Deacons, to make choice of 
new Elders and Deacons, in other words to form a Usf 
of proper candidates for the office, to nominate them. 



RULING ELDERS. 



267 



agreeably to a certain rule, to the Church, and if no 
objection be made, to consider the persons so nominated 
as the choice of the Church. 

In the " Explanatory Articles" of government adopted 
by the Reformed Dutch Church in the United States, 
the following article explains the practice of that Church • 
in this country. " The manner of choosing Elders and 
Deacons is not rigidly defined. A double number may 
be nominated by the Consistory, out of which the 
members of the Church may choose those who shall 
serve. Or, all the members of the Church may unite 
in nominating and choosing the whole number, without 
the interference of the Consistory. Or, the Consistory, 
for the time being, as representing all the memlDcrs, may 
choose the whole, and refer the persons thus chosen, by 
pubhshing them in the Church, for the approbation of 
the people. The last method has been found most 
convenient, especially in large Churches, and has long 
been generally adopted. But where that, or either of 
the other modes, has for many years been followed in any 
Church, there shall he no variation or change, but by 
previous apphcation to the Classis, and express leave 
first obtained for altering such custom.'"* 

In the Church of Geneva, the choice of Elders and 
Deacons is made in the manner which the foregoing 
article declares to be most common in the Dutch 
Churches in the United States,— namely by a selection 
and nomination by the consistorial assembly, which, 
if not opposed, is final, and followed by the usual or- 
dination, without the " laying on of hands."t 

The same method, also, of electing Elders and 

* See the Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in the 
United States- 
f See Mehcier'8 Church History of Geneva, p. 209. 



ELECT! ox OF 



Deaconswas eanV established in the Protestant Cliurche^ 
of France. The Consistory nominated, and the nomi 
nation was announced from the pulpit, for the aj^robc 
tion of the people.* 

IL The next question which arises is, how often 
. ought this election to be made 1 Is it /or life, or fov 
a limited time J 

According to the raiginal constitution of the Reformed 
Church of Scotland, the Elders and Deacons were 
chosen but for one year. This was the arrangement 
adopted in the -^Fkst Book of Discipline.*- formed in 1560 
and al^ in the Second Book of Disciphne," drawn up 
in 157S. and which continued for a number of years in 
the Scottish Church. This plan seems to haVe been 
suggested by the earnest wish of the first Elders them- 
seives, who, finding the office burdensome, as it then 
mvolved much care and labor, t-egged permission to 
resign it to others after a single year. But akhou^h the 
election, at that time, was made annually, and a largr 
ponion of the incumbents of the office were actually 
changed every year : yet the same men might be elected 
from year to year, if they were willing to s^e, and ii 
sometimes happened, in fact, that a few, whose piety, 
and leisure rendered due aneniion to the duties of the 
office easy aiMi pleasant, were re-elected for many suc- 
cessive years. The same form of ordination seems to 
have been repeated afrer every annual election, as well 
with respect to thc»se who had often been ordained heiote. 
as to tho^ who had never submitted to this solemnitv. 

This practice, however, has been long since laid 
a^ide in the Church of Scotland: and the office of the 
Ruling Elder been, for many years, regarded as an 



* QncK's Synodicm^ i. 



RULING ELDERS. 



269 



office for life, as much as that of the ministry of the 
Gospel. 

In the Protestant Churches of France also, the office 
in question was, from the beginning, and it is beheved 
still is, temporary. The rule on this subject, found in 
the Book of " Discipline of the Reformed Churches of 
France," as drawn up by the first National Synod, in 
1559, is in these remarkable woi'ds ; — " The office of 
Elders and Deacons, as it is now in use among us, is 
not perpetual ; yet because changes are not commodious, 
they shall be exhorted to continue in their offices as long 
as they can ; and they shall not lay them down without 
having first obtained leave from their Churches."* 

The Reformed Dutch Church in the United States^ 
after the example of her parent Church in Europe, 
adopts the following plan for the election of Elders and 
Deacons ; — " In order to lessen the burden of a perpetual 
attendance upon ecclesiastical duties, and by a rotation 
in office to bring foru^ard deserving members^ it is the 
established custom in the Reformed Dutch Church, 
that Elders and Deacons remain only two years in 
service, after which they retire from their respective 
offices, and others are chosen in their places ; the rotation 
being always conducted in such a manner^ that only 
one half of the whole number retire each year. (See 
Syn. Dord. Art. 27.) But this does not forbid the liberty 
of immediately choosing the same persons again, if from 
any circumstances it may be judged expedient to con- 
tinue them in office by a re-election."! 

Yet, notwithstanding this annual election, those who 
have ever borne the office of Elder or Deacon in the 



" Quick's ^ynodicon^p- 28. 

f Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in the U. Staiesi. 
z 2 



270 



ELECTION OF 



Dutch Church, are still considered, though never re- 
elected, as hearing, w hile they hve, a certain relation to 
the offices which they have sustained respectively. This 
appears from the following additional article, found m 
the same code. When matters of pecuUar importance 
occur, particularly in calling a Minister, buildmg of 
Churches, oi* whatever relates immediately to the peace 
and welfare of the whole congiegation, it is usual (and 
it is strongly recommended, upon such occasions, 
always) for the Consistoiy to call together all those who 
have ever served as Elders or Deacons, that by their 
advice and counsel they may assist the members of tlie 
Consistory. These, when assembled, constitute what 
is called the " Great Consistory." From the object or 
design of their assembling, the respective powers of each 
are easily ascertained. Those who are out of office,, 
.have only an advisory or counselling voice : and, as 
^hey are not actual members of the board or corporation, 
cannot have a decisive vote. After obtaining their ad- 
vice, it rests with the members of the Consistory to 
follow the counsel given them, or not, as they shaii 
judge proper.'' 

But in the Piesbyterian Church in the United 
States, the office of Ruling Elder is novr. and has been 
from the beginning, perpetual. The election to it, is 
once for all. It, of course, continues through life, un 
less the individual be deposed from office. Like a 
minister of the gospel, he cannot lay aside his office at 
pleasure * He may, indeed, from ill health, or for 

s 

* The writer is kere stating what is the actual constitution 
of the Presbyterian Church as to this point. He does not sup- 
pose, however, that there is any infringement of Presbyterian 
principle in the annual elections of Ruling Elders, formerly 
practised in the Church of Scotland, and still practised in the 



RULING ELDERS. 271 

Other reasons, cease, if he think proper, to perform the 
active duties of the office. But he is stiU an Elder; 
and if he recover his health, or the reasons which in- 
duced him to withdraw, be removed, he may resume 
the duties of the office without a new' ordination.— Of 
this, however^ more in a subsequent chapter. 

III. A third question which arises under this head, 
is— How many Elders ought to he elected in each 
Churchlr In answer to this question little more than 
considerations of expediency can be suggested. No 
absolute rule can be laid down. 

In the Jewish Synagogue, we are told, there were 
commonly at least three Ruling Elders found in each 
ecclesiastical Senate. In the'time of Cyprian, in the 
third century, there were, in the single Church of Car- 
thage, of which he was Bishop, or Pastor, eight El- 
ders'^ of whom five were opposed to his being received 
as t'heii- Pastor. Soon after the opening of the Re- 
formation in Scotland, and while there was only a 
single Protestant congregation in the city of Edin- 
burgh, there were tioelve Elders, and sixteen Deacons, 
belonging to that Church. Dunlop, ii., 638. In the 
year 1560, four years before the decease of Calvin^, 



Dutch and French Churches. Where a Church is large, con~ 
taming a sufficient number of grave, pious and prudent rnern- 
bers to furnish an advantageous rotation, and where the duties^ 
of the office are many and arduous, it may not be without its 
advantages to keep up some change of incumbency m this 
office. But, in general, it seems manifest, that the spiritual 
interests of a congregation will be likely to be managed most 
steadily and to edification by permanent officers who are never 
even temporarily withdrawn from the sphere of duty m which 
they move, and who are daily gaining more knowledge ot the,. 
Church, and more experience. 



272 



ELECTION OF 



there were ticehe Rijling Elders in the Church of Ge- 
7i€va, Calv. EpUt. Gas^pari Oleriarw. 

The Form of Government of the PresbyteriaB Church 
in the United States, does not d^e the proper num- 
ber of Elders in each Church. Speaking of the Church 
Session, it declares 'Chapter 9, Sect. 2..) that of this 
Judicatory, - two Elders, if there be as many in the 
congregation, with the Pastor, shall be necesary to 
constitute a quorum." From ihk rule, it seems to be a 
legitimate inference, that if there be only one Elder in 
the congregation, he with the Pastor, may constitute a 
regular Session, for the transaction of busines. The 
existence of so small a number as even tico. however, 
is greatly to be regretted, and ought by no means to be 
submitted to, if proper caiididaies for the c^e can be 
found. In dae smallest Church it is desirable that there 
should be at least from five to seven Eldei^ Without 
some such number, there cannot be that weis^ht in their 
judicial counsels, and that influence drawn fi-om everv 
part of the congregation in aid of the Pastor, and the 
best interests of the whole body, which a well seleaed 
bench of officers of that number, would be hkely to im- 
part. In large Churches, there ought to be at least ten or 
twelve: and in Churches much beyond the usual size. 
fourteen on fifteen would not be more than enough to 
gain all the advantages which the best arrangement 
with regard to this office might be esipected to secure 
It ought to be borne in mind, however, that there is 
no advantage whatever to be gained by electing un- 
suitable men to this office, for the sake of addin/mere 
numbers to the Church Session. It is much better to 
get along wiih three or four pious, wise and prudent 
Elders, than to add two or three dozens to their rankst 
of men of an c^posite stamp, who, by their want of 



RULING ELDERS. 



273 



piety and wisdom, might be a nuisance instead of a 
comfort a curse instead of a blessing. Pastors, then, 
and their Churches, instead of making haste to fill up 
the ranks of their congregational Senators with un- 
suitable members, had better wait patiently until the 
Head of the Church shall provide for them candidates 
in some measure " after his own heart." 

lY. The last question which will be proposed for 
solution is, who may be considered as eligible to 

THIS OFFICE? 

The proper personal qualifications for this office have 
been considered in a preceding chapter. These are 
not intended to be brought into view here. All that is 
designed is, a reference to two or three points of legal 
qualification, which are necessary to render a candi- 
date eligible in the view of the ecclesiastical casuist. 

And first, no one can be elected an Elder in any 
Church, who is not a member in full communion in 
the Church of which he is to be chosen an officer. The 
extreme impropriety of choosing men to represent the 
members of the Church, and to sit in judgment on the 
standing, deportment and Church membership of others^ 
who were not themselves in full communion with the 
body of Christ, is so glaring as to need no comment. 

But the eligible candidate for this choice must be a 
male member. Some, indeed, have seriously doubted 
whether there were not, in the apostolic Church, female 
Elders, or Elder es s es ; and also whether there ought 
not to be a similar class of Elders in every Church at 
the present day. A great majority however, who have 
treated of this subject, believe, that the female officers 
apparently referred to in Titus ii. 3, and a few other 
passages in the New Testament, were intended to be 
merely a temporary appointment, arising out of that 



274. 



ELECTION OF 



State of seclusion in which females lived, and do still 
live, in the Eastern world, and not at all necessary in 
those countries where females may be approached and 
instructed without the intervention of individuals of 
their own sex. The Presbyterian Church has judged 
and acted in conformity with this ^dew of the subject.* 
It has been queried, whether a person who is an 
acting Ruling Elder in one Church, may be chosen to 
the same office in another, and thus be an acting mem- 
ber of two Church Sessions at the same time? This 
question ought, undoubtedly, to be answered in the 
negative. An Elder can no more be a member of two 
different Sessions, and responsible, of course, to both, at 
the same time, than a private Christian can be enrolled 
as a member in two different Churches at the same 
time, and equaUy amenable to both ; or than a minis- 
ter of the Gospel can be a member of two Presbyteries, 
at the same time, and hable to be caUed to an account 
by both, simultaneously, and to have entirely inconsis- 
tent requisitions made by each. An Elder in one 
Church, then, is not ehgible to the Eldership in another, 
unless on the piinciple of his taking a dismission from the 
former, for the pm-pose of forming a regular and official 
relation to the latter. 



* The J\Ioravians, ur United Brethren, and the society Of 
Friends, or Quakers, are the only ecclesiastical bodies in Pro. 
testant Christendom, so far as is now recollected, in whose, 
ivstem of Church order Female Eiders actually have a place. 



CHAPTER XUL 



OP THE ORDINATION OF RULING ELDERS, 

By Ordination is meant that solemn rite, or act, by 
which a candidate for any office in the Church of Christ} 
ie authoritatively designated to that office, by those who 
are clothed with power for the purpose. 

It cannot require formal argument to prove, that this 
rite, or something analagous and equivalent to it, is in- 
dispensable in conducting all regular ecclesiastical go- 
vernment. If certain officers have been appointed in 
the Church by Jesus Christ, her King and Head ; — if 
certain qualifications have been declared by Him in- 
dispensable to fit men for serving the Church in these 
offices, without which they ought not to be permitted 
to occupy them ; — and if an extraordinary and immedi- 
ate designation to office by Jesus Christ himself, be not 
now to be expected in any case ; — if these things be sOj 
it inevitably follows, that some person or persons must 
have power committed to them by the Head of the 
Church, to examine or try candidates for these offices : 
to judge of their quahfications ; and, if approved, to 
invest them with office. The idea that, with such 
directions as the New Testament 'contains on this sub- 
ject, men should be left at liberty to take these offices 
upon themselves, by their own act, and at thek own 
pleasure— is full of absurdity; and, if realized, would un- 



276 



ORDINATION OF 



doubtedly lead to endless disorder and mischief. Only 
suppose the secular offices of a nation to be thus assumed 
by men at will ; and by none more readily than the 
vain, the ignorant, the self-sufficient, and the ambi- 
tious: — as would inevitably be the case, if such were 
the path of access to office ; — and there would be an 
end of all order. But if it be neither safe nor pennitted 
for men to intrade into official stations uncalled ; and if 
an immediate investiture by the Master himself be out 
of the question ; we are driven to the conclusion, that 
all regular and lawful introduction to office, must be 
through the medium of human ordainers, acting in 
the name of Christ, and governing themselves by his 
declared will. 

.Accordingly, while the Saviour himself, in the days 
of his flesh, immediately invested with office the twelve 
Apostles, and all others whom he personally called and 
sent forth ; no sooner had He ascended to heaven, than 
the practice of introducing to office by the instrumen- 
tality of men, began, and, so far as we are infoiined, 
was uniformly continued. Then the ministers of 
Christ began to act upon the principle afterwards- so 
explicitly communicated to Timothy^ and enjoined 
upon him : — That wliich thou hast heard of me, 
among many witnesses, the same commit thou to 
faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." 
Here we are plainly taught that men are not to seize 
ujyoii the sacred office themselves. It is to be "com- 
mitted to them;" and that not by every one; but by 
those only who have regularly ''received" it them- 
selves. We find, too, that the method of ordination 
which had been in use in the Jewish S}T.iagogue, and 
to which all the first Christians had been accustomed, 
was transfen'ed to the Church, and became a stated part 



RULING ELDERS. 



of ecclesiastical order. Paul and Barnabas were set 
apart to a particular service, by a plurality of ecclesiasti- 
cal men, with prayer, imposition of hands, and fasting. 
When they, in their turn, went forth to execute the 
work to which they had been called, we find them, 
wherever they went, "ordaining Elders," and com 
mitting to them the care of the Church. Timothy was 
invested with office " by the laying on of the hands of 
the Presbytery." And even the Deacons, were called 
to their office in the same manner. It was referred to 
the people to "look out" and elect the candidates ; but . 
having done so, they brought them to the Apostles, who 
^'laid their hands upon them," and conferred on them 
the important office to which they v/ere appointed. 

It is no part of the belief of Presbyterians, that Ordi 
nation imparts any direct influence, either physical or 
moral, to him who receives it. They have no idea that, 
in this act, by a kind of opus operatum, according to 
the Romanists, an " indelible character" is commu- 
nicated. They do not suppose that any hallowed 
energy proceeds from the hands of the ordainers to 
him on whose head they lay them, in the act of impo- 
sition. But they regard it simply as that official act, by 
which a maii is pronounced, declared and manifested, 
to be actually put in possession of the office to which he 
has been chosen. It is, in one word, the actual indue 
lion into office of one elected to fill it. The case k 
precisely analogous to that of civil rulers. The man 
who is appointed to the office of Judge on a secular" 
bench, has no real addition made, either to his intellect^ 
his learning, or his moral excellence^ by taking the 
oath of office, and complying v^ith those formalities 
which actually introduce him to his official station. 
And yet, so important are these formalities, that hi?? 



278 



ORDINATION OF 



power lawfully to act as Judge absolutely depends upon 
them. Before they take place, he is 7iot really in 
office; and after they take place, he is clothed with 
that plenaiy powder, wliicli quahfies him for the regu- 
lar discharge of every official duty. And so of every 
other civil officer in the land. Thus it is in the Church. 
Ordination is the essence of a lawful external call to 
ecclesiastical office. It is that act, before w^hich, the 
ecclesiastical officer is not prepared, regularly, to dis- 
charge a single function appropriate to the station to 
which he is elected ; but after which, he is prepared 
for their regular and valid performance. 

That Ruling Elders, besides being regularly chosen 
to office, should be ordained; — that is, publicly and 
solemnly designated and introduced to office by ap- 
propriate formalities — om- ecclesiastical Constitution re- 
quires, and prescribes a Fomi for the purpose, concern- 
ing which I shall only say, that, as far as it goes, it is 
well devised, impressive and excellent. I say, as far 
as it goes; — for it has been, for many years, my settled 
conviction, that the Ordination Service in question, in 
not making the imposition of hands a stated consti- 
tuent part of it, is chargeable with an omission, which, 
though not essential^ and, therefore, no^ a matter for 
which it is proper to intermpt the peace of the Church: 
yet appears to me mcapable of a satisfactciy defence; 
and w^hich it is my earnest hope may not much longer 
continue to be, as I know it is with man}^, matter of 
serious lamentation. 

The " imposition of hands,*' as a constituent part of 
Ordination, is an old and impressive rite. It was, no- 
toriously, a famihar mode of designation to office, through 
the whole of the Old Testament economy. It is, if 
I mistake not, universally acknowledged to have been 



RULING ELDERS. 



279 



employed in ordaining all the Elders of the Jewish 
Synagogue. We find it used in every Ordination, 
without exception, the particulars of which are detailed 
in the New Testament history. And even in setting 
apart the Deaco/is, nothing can be more explicit than 
the statement, that it was done with the " imposition of 
hands." So far, then, as we are bound to reverence and 
follow ancient, primitive, and uniform usage, I know of 
no solid reason why it should be omitted in any case. 

Some, indeed, have attempted to defend the omission 
of this rite by alleging, that the imposition of hands, in 
the days of the Apostles, was connected with the super- 
natural gifts of the Holy Spirit, which were then com- 
mon ; and that with those special gifts, it ought to have 
ceased. In support of this allegation, they commonly 
adduce such passages as those recorded in Acts viii. 
17, 18; xix. 6; Heb. vi. 2, &c. This argument, how- 
ever, if it have any force, ought to banish the imposi- 
tion of hands from all ordinations ; but can never jus- 
tify the omission of it in ordaining Ruling Elders and 
Deacons, while it is retained in the ordination of those 
who " labor in the word and doctrine." But the va- 
lidity of the. whole argument, it is believed, may be 
set aside without difficulty. 

We read, in the New Testament, of four cases, or 
kinds of " laying on of hands." The first, by Christ 
himself, to express an authoritative benediction ; {Matt. 
xix. 15; Mark x. 16;) the semnd, in the healing of 
diseases; (Mar/jxvi. 18; Acts xxviii. 8;) the third, in 
conferring extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, {Acts, viii. 
17, xix. 6 ;) and the fourth, in setting apart persons 
to sacred office; {Acts vi. 6, xiii. 3; 1 Tim. iv. 14.) 
The venerable Dr. Owen, in his commentary on Heh. 
Yi. 2, expresses the opinion, that the "laying on of 



280 



ORDINATION OF 



hands," mentioned in that passage, is to be considered 
as belonging to the third kind or class of cases, and, 
of course, as referring to the extraordmary gifts of the 
Holy Spirit. Others have supposed, that it rather be- 
longs to the fourth example here enumerated, and. 
therefore, applies to the ordination of ministers. On 
tliis point I decide nothing. But my reasons for sup- 
posing that the imposition of hands in the ordination 
oi Church Officers, had no reference to the imparting- 
of supernatural gifts, and, consequently, ought not to, 
be deemed an extraordinaiy and temporary rite, are 
such as these— 1. This rite has been employed in all 
ages of the Chm'ch in setting apart persons to ecclesi- 
astical office. 2. It is one of the most natural and 
significant modes of designating a person who is in- 
tended to be consecrated or devoted to a particular ser- 
vice. 3. It was manifestly employed in a number of 
cases which occur in the sacred history, where no spe- 
cial gifts were intended to be conveyed; and, therefore, 
though sometimes connected with tho£€ gifts, yet w^e 
are sure it was not in all cases thus connected.* 4. 



* " Imposition of hands was a Jewish ceremony, introduced, 
not b}^ any divine authority, but by custom ; it being the prac- 
tice among those people, whenever they prayed to God for 
any person, to lay their hands upon his head. Our Saviour 
observed the same custom, both when he conferred his blessing 
on children, and when he healed the sick, adding prayers to 
the ceremony. The Apostles likewise laid hands on those 
upon whom they bestowed the Holy Ghosu The priests ob-. 
served the same custom when any one was received into their 
body. And the Apostles themselves underwent the imposition 
of hands afresh, when they entered upon any new design. In 
the ancient Church imposition of hands was even practised on 
persons when they were married ; which custom the Abys- 
sinians still observe." Burner's Oriental Customs^ ij. 25^, 



RULING ELDERS. 28 f 

When hands were laid on Paul and Barnabas^ at 
Antioch, it was not that they might receive these gifts, 
for they were possessed of them prior to this solemnity. 
5. In this ease, too, it is remarkable that they seem to 
have been ordinary pastors and teachers who laid 
their hands upon one, at least, of extraordinary gifts 
and character. 6. And, finally, in 1 Tim. v. 22, the 
whole rite of ordination seems to be comprehended in 
this act; — Lay hands suddenly on no man/' &c. 
And if we consider the act of laying hands on the head 
of the candidate for sacred office, as intended, at once^ 
solemnly to designate his person ; to express an official 
benediction ; and to indicate his entire consecration to 
the service of God : — we could scarcely conceive of an 
act more simple, and yet more appropriate, and full of 
meanings. And although those who lay on hands in 
this transaction altogether disclaim, as was before stated 3. 
the power of conveying the Holy Ghost to the indivi- 
dual ordained ; yet as an emblem of what he needs, 
and ought unceasingly to seek, and of what his brethren 
desire and pray for on his behalf, it is, surely, in a high 
degree expressive, and by no means open to the charge 
of either presumption or superstition. I would say^ 
therefore, concerning this part of the solemnity of or- 
dination, in the language of the venerable Calvin: — 
" Although there is no express precept for the imposition 
of hands; yet since we find it to have been constantly 
used by the Apostles, such a punctual observance of it 
by them ought to have the force of a precept with us. 
And certainly this ceremony is highly usefiil both to 
recommend to the people the dignity of the ministry, 
and to admonish the person ordained, that he is no 
longer his own master^ but devoted to the serviee of God 
mA the Clim ch> Besides^ it will not be an unmeaning' 
2. A 2 



282. 



ORDINATION^ OF 



sign, if it be restored to its true origin. For if the Spirit 
of God institute nothing in the Church in vain, we 
shall perceive that this ceremony which proceeded from 
Him, is not without its use, provided it be not perverted 
b}^ a superstitious abuse."* 

But if this rite be so reasonable, so scriptural, so 
expressive, and so generally adopted by almost all 
Christian denominations, in ordaining those Elders who 
" labor in the word and doctrine how comes it to pass 
that it should be so generally, not to say universally 
omitted in the ordination of Ruhng Elders ? I have long 
deplored this omission ;t and cannot help beheving that 
the restoration of so appropriate and impressive a part of 
the ordaining service would, in all probability, be at- 
tended with beneficial effects. 

It is not easy to ascertain the origin of the omission 
in question. The apostolic office of Ruling Elder, was 
preserved, as we hav&seen, by the Witnesses ofthetruth, 
during the dark ages. Whether the pious Waldenses 
and Bohemian Brethren were in the habit of setting 
apart this class of officers with the imposition of hands. 



* Institutiones, Lib. iv. Cap. iii. 16. 

t More than twenty years ago, the author of this volume, 
under the deep and unwavering conviction that he had scrip- 
tural authority to sustain him, when called upon to ordain 
Elders and Deacons in a vacant Church, added to the usual 
solemnity on such occasions, the act of " laying on hands" in 
the ordaining prayer. Finding, however, that many of his 
Brethren coasidered it as an innovation, and were by no means 
prepared to introduce the practice ; believing that diversity of 
practice in relation to this matter would be very undesirable . 
and persuaded, moreover, that the act in question ought not 
to be deemed an essential in any ordination he resolved not to 
repeat it, until it could be used without offence, and with better, 
prospects of edification to the Church, 



RULING ELDERS. 



283^ 



cannot now, so far as I know, be determined. The 
Reformers received the office under consideration from 
those pious Witnesses; and were well aware, as their 
writings evince, that all ordinations in the Synagogue, 
and in the primitive Church, had been accompanied 
with the laying on of hands. Still, however, while they 
with one accord, retained this rite in the ordination of 
Teaching Elders, they seem, (]uite as unanimously, to 
have discarded it in the ordination of Ruling Elders* 
Of the cause of this, their writings give us no intimation ;: 
nor has it ever been my lot to hear, from any quarter, a 
sinsrle reason for the omission, which was in the least 
degree satisfactory. To be told, that the omission has 
"long been established;" — that, while all the Protestant 
Churches in the world, except that of England, receive 
this class of officers, in one form or another, they are- 
>-no where ordained by the imposition of hands;" — that 
this is " the custom of the Church ;" — that to depart from 
it would be " to irmovate" and " give offence," &c. — that 
this rite " may be omitted without injury, not being an 
essential part of ordination," (fee. — is surely httle 'adapted 
to satisfy an inquiring mind, desirous of receiving, as 
well as of being able to give,, a reason for every practicPo. 

But although, as has been already said, no reason is 
formally assigned, or even hinted, in the writings of 

* It is worthy of remark that our Independent brethren, at 
early periods of their history, adhered more closely to the^ 
scriptural method of ordaining Ruling Elders and Deacons, than 
even Presbyterians. See the Cambridge Platform, chapters 
vii. and ix. See also a Confession of Faith, adopted by some^ 
Anti-psBdobaptists, (to the amount of 100 congregations,) in 
England, and Wales in 1689; and ratified and adopted by a 
Baptist Association met at Philadelphia, in 1742; chapter 27». 
Also a Short Treatise on Church Discipline,'' appended t©> 
it., by the latter. Chapters 3. and 4. 



284 



ORDINATION OF 



the Reformers, for laying- aside the imposition of hands m 
the ordination of Ruling Elders ; it is not, perhaps^ 
difficult to conjecture how it happened. One mistake, 
I suspect, naturally led to another. They began by 
considering the office as a temjjorary one ; or, rather 
allowing those who bore it, if they saw fit, to dechne 
sustaining it for more than a single year. There was 
a new election of these Elders annually. The same 
individuals, indeed, if they were acceptable to the people, 
and were willing to continue to serve the Church, 
might be re-elected for a series of years, or, if they 
consented, even for hfe. But this seldom occurred. 
There was, for the most part, annuall}^ a considerable 
change in the individuals, and, annually, a new ordina- 
tion. The tenure of the office being thus temporary ; 
and, in many cases, but for a single year; — no wonder 
that there should seem to the discerning and pious men 
who took the lead in organizing the Reformed Churches, 
some incongruity between this annual renewal of the 
official investiture and obhgation, and setting apart men 
to the office in question, each time, with the very same 
formalities which attended the ordination of ministers 
of the gospel, whose tenure of office was for hfe. This 
incongruity, it is probable, struck them wixh so much 
force, that they could not reconcile it wAih. their feehngs 
to set apart to their office, these temporaiy incumbents, 
with the same rites and solemnity which they employed 
in ordaining ministers of the Word and Sacraments.* 



* This represeatation is not wholly gratuitous. It appears 
from the Compendium Theologim Christiance of March, and 
from the opinion of Frederick Spanheim, quoted with approba- 
tion by Be Moor, the Commentator on Marck, that all three of 
these Divines of the Reformed Church, had no other obj^e^ 



RULING ELDERS. 



285 



Nor is it matter of wonder that such feelings should have 
had an influence on theii* minds. Those who take 
such a view of the tenure of the office in question as 
they did, will never be very cordial or decisive either in 
addressing those who bear it, or in setting them apart^ 
as men consecrated for life to the service of the Church. 
But that in the Church of Scotland* and in the Pres- 
byterian Church in this country, where, it is behevedj 
correct views of the office of Ruhng Elder, as pei'petual, 
are universally received, the scriptural mode of setting 
apart to this office should have been so long and so 
generaUy disused, is a fact for which it is not easy io 
assign a satisfactory reason. 

We are now prepared to take a brief survey of the 
arguments by which the propriety of ordaining Elders 
by the imposition of Imnds may be maintained. They 
are such as the following: 

1. We find, throughout the whole Jewish history, that 
solemnly laying the hands on the head of a person who 
was intended to be particularly honored, blessed, or 
devoted to sacred functions, was a rite of frequent, not 
to say constant use ; and even in cases in which the 
conveyance of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, 
could not possibly have been designed. 

2. The inspiied Apostles, in organizing the New 
Testament Church, took as their model th^ Synagogue. 

tion to the laying on of hands in the ordination of Ruling 
!E.lderd, than that which I have suggested. De Moort Conu 
Perpet. Vol. vi. p. 330 

* At what period in the History of the Church of Scotland 
it was that the annual election of Elders was laid aside, and the 
office made permanent, it has not fallen in the author's way to 
obtain information. He is disposed to believe, however, that 
the change took place either late in the sixteenth, or early in 
the seventeenth century. 



286 



ORDINATION OF 



S3'^stem of government, to which the first Christians had 
been all their lives accustomed. 

3. It is certain that in every Jewish Synagogue there 
was a bench of Ruling Elders ; and it is just as certain 
that these Elders were always ordained by the imposi- 
tion of hands. 

4. There is not a single instance of an ordination, to 
any ecclesiastical office whatever, of which we have any 
account in the New Testament, in which the ceremony 
of the laying on of hands does not appear to have been 
used. 

5. The first Deacons, though not intrusted with an 
office so purely spiritual, or so arduous, as that of Ru- 
ling Elder, were )'^et, as all acknowledge, set apart to 
the Diaconate by the imposition of hands. Of course? 
those who bear a superior office ought not to be intro- 
duced to it with less solemnity. 

6. To imagine that there is any peculiar meaning or 
mystical influence, in the laying on of hands, which is 
above the dignity of the Ruhng Elder's office, involves, 
at once^ a superstitious estimate of a simple, emljlemati- 
cal act, and an unworthy degradation of an important 
order in the Christian family. 

Accordingly, it is observable, that almost all classes 
of writers whose judgment in reference to this matter is 
worthy of particular notice, freely concede the propiiet}^ 
of setting apart both Ruhng Elders and Deacons in the 
manner for which I contend ; and scarcely offer any 
other reason for omitting it, than that such has been 
" long the custom" of the Reformed Churches, and that 
the ceremony is not " essential" to a valid ordination. 
The following specimen of the manner in which the 
subject is treated by such writers, Avill be quite sufficient 
to e^tabUsh my position. 



RULING ELDERS. 287' 

The very learned authors of the Theses Leydenses^ 
who were zealous Presbyterians, in speaking of the 
biennial election of Ruling Eldeis and Deacons, in the 
Church of Holland, acknowledge that, in the Apostolic 
Church, those offices were both perpetual, and concede 
that the different plan adopted among themselves was 
an imperfection ;* plainly intimating, that their mode 
of ordaining these officers had grown out of this im- 
perfection. 

The foreign Protestants, who established themselves 
in London, during the reign of Edward the sixth, 
not only had Ruling Elders and Deacons in all their 
Churches ; but also uniformly ordained them by the im- 
position of hands, as we have seen in a preceding 
chapter. 

The Rev. John Anderson, of Scotland, the able 
and zealous defender of Presbyterianism against Rhind, 
whoUved a little more than a century ago, speakiiigof 
the ordination of Ruling Elders by the imposition of 
hands, has the following passage. ''Nobody doubts it 
is very lawful ; and, for my own part, I heartily 
WISH IT WERE PRACTISED ; but I deny that it is 
absolutely necessary, there being no precept enjoining 
it."t 

The Rev. Archibald Hall, also of Great Britain, 
and a thorough-going advocate for Presbyterian order, 
speaks on the same subject in the following terms. " The 
call of Ruhng Elders, like the call of the Elders ivho 
•labor in the word and doctrine," consists in two things, 
viz., election and ordination. Their election should 
be popular, and their ordination judicial, and per= 



Synopsis Purioris Theologice. Disput. 42. p. 621. 
+ Defencey S^c. Chap. ii. Sect. vi. p. 179. 



288 



ORDINATION OP 



formed with laying on op hands." And, in a 
subsequent page, he expresses an opinion that Deacons 
ought to be ordained in the same manner* 

The venerable John Brown^ of Haddington^ one of 
the most decisive, consistent and devoted Presbyterians 
that ever hved ; — after giving an account of the nature 
and warrant of the office of Ruling Elders, — observes ; — 
" Their ordination ought to be transacted in much the 
same manner, as that of teaching Elders, or Pastors."t 

The learned and pious Dr. Cotton Mather^ delivers 
the following opinion on the subject before us. The 
imposition of hands in the or-iination of a Church officer, 
is a rite not only lawful to be retained ; but it seems by 
a divine institution directed and required; so that 
although the call of a person to Church office may not 
become null and void, where that rite may have been 
omitted, as it is in the Seniors and Deacons in 

MOST OF THE REFORMED ChURCHES ; YET WE CAN- 
NOT APPROVE THE OMISSION OF IT. A ceremouial 
defect may be blameworthy."t 

Our excellent and eloquent countryman, the Rev. 
President Dwlght^ gives an opinion concerning the 
ordination of Deacons^ which is decisive of his opinion 
concerning that of Ruling Elders, in favor of which latter 
class of officers, he very exphcitly, as we have before 
seen, declares his judgment. He speaks thus : — 

"Deacons are to be ordained by the imposition of 
hands, and by prayer." 

When the brethren had set these men before the 



* Scriptural View of the Gospel Churchy Chapters 12 aqd Id 
p. 67. 102, 

f Compendious View. IJook vii. Chapter ii. p. 640. 
t Magnalia, Vol. ii. p. 218. 



RULING ELDEHS. 



289 



Apostles, St. Luke informs us," they prayed, and laid 
their hands upon them." 

" This also is an authoritative example of the man- 
ner in which Deacons are to be introduced into every 
Church. It is the example of inspired men ; and was, 
therefore, the pleasure of the Spirit of God. There is 
no hint in the New Testament, nor even in ecclesiasti-^ 
cal history, that they were ever introduced in any other 
manner. At the same time, there is no precept, re- 
yoking, or altering the authority, or influence of this 
example. It stands, therefore, in full force; and re- 
quires that all persons chosen by the Church to this office, 
should be consecrated to the duties of it in the same 
manner." 

" It is to be observed, further, that if any such altera^ 
tion had existed in periods subsequent to the apostolic 
age, it would have been totally destitute of any authority 
to us. This mode of consecration has, in fact, been 
disused in New-England, to a considerable extent. 
For this, however, there seems to have been no reason 
of any value. So far as I have been able to gain infor 
mation on the subject^ the disuse was originated at first, 
and has been gradually extended, by mere inattention ; 

NOR IS IT CAPABLE, SO FAR AS I KNOW, OF ANY DE- 
FENCE."* 

These are a few of the authorities which might be 
quoted in favor of the same general position. In fact, 
I have met with no Presbyterian or Independent writer, 
who beheved in the propriety of the imposition of hands 
in ani/ case of ordination, who did not either explicitly, 
or virtually grant, that there was no reason for with 
holding this ceremony in the case of Ruling Elders, but 



* Theology explained and defended. Vol. iv. p. 29L 
2b 



290 ORDINATION OF 

1 

the custom of the Church, or some similar considera- 
tion. 

On the supposition, then, that the imposition of hands 
ought always to be employed in the ordination of Ru- 
ling Elders, the question naturally arises; — Whose 
HANDS ought to be laid on in such ordinations ? And 
here, if we attend to the simplest principles of all 
government, it would seem that, we could scarcely be at 
a loss for a satisfactory answer. 

It seems to be a fundamental principle in every 
department, both of the natural and moral world, that 
every thing must be considered as capable of begetting 
its iike. If this be so, does it not follow, as a plain 
dictate of common sense, that, in ordaining Ruling El- 
ders, the members of the Session already in office should 
lay on hands, with the Pastor, in setting apart an ad- 
ditional nmnber to the same office ? In other words, if 
there be such a body already in existence in the Church, 

THE HANDS OF THE PAROCHIAL PrESBYTERY OUght 

to be laid on, in adding to its own number; — and the 
" right hand of fellowship" given, at the close of the 
service, by each member of the Session, to each of his 
newly ordained brethren. This appears to me equally- 
agreeable to reason and Scripture, and highly adapted 
to edification. And if there be no Eldership already in 
the Church in which the ordination takes place, — then 
the Presbytery, upon proper appHcation being made to 
them, ought to appoint at least one minister, and two or 
more Ruling Elders, to attend, at the time and place 
most convenient, to perform the ordination. How much, 
more impressive and acceptable would be such a scene, 
than the cold and naked manner in which this service 
is too often performed ! 

_ A question may here arise in the minds of some, 



RCLING ELDERS. 291 



whetlier thoseElders who, when ordained, had nohands 
laid on them, may, without impropriety, join m the im^ 
position of hands on the heads of their younger brethren, 
Ivho may be ordained in this manner 7 To this ques- 
tion, beyond all doubt, we may confidently return an 
affirmative answer. They may unite in the imposmon. 
of hands, without the least scruple, and with the utmost 
propriety. AH reasonable men grant, that the rite m 
question, though rational and scriptural, is not essenUal 
to a valid ordination. Our venerable Fathers of the 
Scotch Reformation did not deem the imposition ot 
hands necessary, even in the ordination of Ministers 
of the gospel; and, therefore,in their First Book of Dis- 
cipHne did not prescribe it. Elders, therefore, who have 
been regularly set apart to their office, agreeably to the 
Formula prescribed in the Presbyterian Church, have 
received an ordination completely valid. They are fully 
invested with the office, and with all the powers and 
privileges which it includes. It is contrary to the whole 
genius of the gospel to make a mere ceremomal delect 
fatal to the substance of an otherwise regular investiture^ 
If Elders who have been thus ordained, be deemed 
competent to any part of their official work, they are 
competent to every part; and, of course, to partake m 
the solemnity which I am here endeavoring to re- 
commend. ,. 

If the foregoing principles be correct, then Uulmg 
Elders ought also to lay on hands, with the Pastor, m 
the ordination of Deacons; their office as Rulers vest- 
ing them with full power for this act, and rendermg it 
strictly proper. But inasmuch as Deacons make no 
part of the parochial presbytery, and are not vested 
with any portion of the function of spiritual govern- 
ment it does not seem proper that they should lay on 



'^^^ ORDINATION OF 



hands in any case of ordination. In that of Ruling 
Elders, It would be manifestly incon^-uous ; since their 
office IS altogether unHke. But even in the ordination 
of Deacons, it would be inconsistent with regular order 
Ordination is an act not only official, but also a^thori^ 
. tative. It IS an act of government: but to no partici- 
pation in this are Deacons appointed. This office as 
we have seen, is highly important, and requires much 
wisdom, piety, pmdence, and diligence; but their 
sphere of duty is entirely different from that of those 
who are "set over the flock in the Lord," and who are 
appointed to "watch for souls as they that must give 
account." 

If, after this whole discussion, any should be dis- 
posed to ask, what additional advantage may be ex- 
pected to flow from ordaining our Elders by the impo- 
sition of hands, and with similai- external solemnities 
to those which are employed in setting apart ministers 
of the gospel?— I answer— It will be a return to scrip- 
tural example, and primitive usage,— which is always 
right, and will, we have reason to hope, by the grace 
of God, be connected with a blessing. It will be doing 
warranted and appropriate honor to a class of officers 
too long deprived of their due estimation and authority, 
^Vhen the people see those whom they have elected to 
this office, devoutly kneehng before the Lord, and the 
hands of the parochial Presbytery laid on their heads, 
with fervent prayer, and with a solemn charge and 
benediction ;— they will naturally attach to the office 
itself more importance, and to those who bear it, more 
reverence. Nay, perhaps it is not unreasonable to be- 
lieve, that such solemnities may be made the means of 
salutary impressions on the minds even of theii" imme« 
diate subjects. If the wiitei: of these lines does not 



RULING ELDERS. 



293 



gTeatly mistake, he has known the solemnities attend- 
ing the ordination of Pastors, productive of deep and 
lasting impressions, both on the ordained^ and the 
spectators. But he has no recollection of ever witness- 
ing any such result from our comparatively cold and 
lifeless mode of setting apart the official Rulers in 
Christ's house. " This is a lamentation, and shall be 
lor a lamentation/' 



CHAPTER XIT, 



OF THE RESIGNATION OF RULING ELDERS : THEIR 

REMOVING FROM ONE CHURCH TO ANOTHER ; 

AND THE METHOD OF CONDUCTING DISCIPLINE. 
AGAINST THEM. 

As it is a fundamental principle of the Presbyteriaa 
Church that the office of Ruling Elder is permanent : 
that when a man is once set apart to it, he is always 
an Elder, while he Uves, unless deposed by regular 
constitutional process; — a variety of questions, naturally 
resulting from this principle, claim our notice. Among 
these, some of the more obvious and important will be 
briefly considered in the present chapter. 

A Ruling Elder, after being regularly and solemnly 
^et apart to his office, with, perhaps, as full an intention- 
of faithfully performing its duties to liis life's end, a? 
ever man had ; — may lose his health, and thus become 
physically and permanently unable to perform those 
dutieSo Or he may become, unavoidably, so situated, 
with regard to his temporal business, as to render the 
regular fulfilment of his duties altogether impracticable. 
In this case, the indi\ddual supposed, may resign hi^ 
place in the Session ; in other words, he may cease to 
be an acting Overseer, or Inspector and Ruler of that 
Churck. He \\t11, of course, still retain his place and 
grivileges as a regular member of the Church : but be 



RULING ELDERS. 



295 



will no longer take any part in its spiintual government. 
This is so reasonable a provision j that it can scar el y be 
thought to require either illustration or defence. We 
all know that a Teaching Elder, or Minister of the 
Word and Sacraments, 'after being for a time a Pastor, 
may, if the state of his health, or any other circum- 
stance should imperiously demand it, resign his pastoral 
charge, and retire, as long as the cause of his resigna- 
tion continues to operate, to private life. He who does 
this, it is well known, though he ceases to be a Pastor, 
still continues to be a minister, fully invested with the 
powers of an " Ambassador of Christ." He may still, 
if he think proper, reside within the bounds of the con- 
gregation which he formerly served ; and he may., 
occasionally, if mutually convenient and agreeable, 
minister to them in sacred things. But he is no longer 
their minister; and he may never think proper again 
to take a pastoral charge. 

AU these principles apply to the Ruling Elder. If he 
verily think that he cannot any longer perform the duties^ 
of his office in a manner acceptable either to the Head 
ef the Church, or to his people ; — he may withdraw 
from active service. When he does this, however, he 
does not lay down his office. He does not cease to be 
an Elder. He only ceases to be an acting Elder. If 
his health should ever be restored, or his temporal cir- 
cumstances undergo a favorable alteration, he may 
resume the duties of his office^ and again take his place- 
in the Session from which he withdrew, or some otherj 
without a new ordination. When an Elder thus wishes^ 
to resign his station^ he is to give official notice of his 
desire to the Session they are to declare, if they think 
proper, their acceptance of his resignation ; — ^the whole^ 
Ccansgiction is to be distinctly recorded iii the SessiojapJ; 



296 



RESIGNATION, fcC, OF 



Book ; — and report made to the Piesbyteiy that the 
individual in question has ceased to be an acting mem 
ber of that Session. 

Again ; an Elder may become wholly incapable of 
serving the Church with which he is connected, by the 
entire loss of his popularity. He may not have become 
either heterodox in his theological opinions, or so irregu- 
lar in any part of his practice, as to render himself Uable 
to process, or deposition from office : — and yet he may. 
by indiscretions, or by undignified conduct, so lose the 
respect and confidence of the people ; or, in a moment of 
prejudice or passion, the popular feeling, without any 
just ground of blame, on his part., may be so strong 
against him, that he may be no longer able to serve the 
Church either acceptably, or to edification, as a spiri- 
tual Ruler. In either of these cases, he ought volun- 
tarily to resign his place in the Session, as stated in the 
preceding paragraph; and the Session, after taking 
a vote of acceptance on the resignation, ought dis- 
tinctly to record the same in the minutes of their 
proceedings, and make regular report of it, for the in- 
formation of the Presbytery. In all this there will be 
recognized an almost exact sunilaiity to the usual course 
of proceeding, when a Pastor is sensible that he has 
become unpopular, and wishes to resign his charge. 

It may be, however, that the Elder, whose popularity 
is thus prostrated, may not be sensible of his real situa- 
tion ; may be unwiliing to believe that he is not popu- 
lar ; and may, therefore, refuse, even when requested., 
to resign his station. In this case, the course prescribed 
in our Form of Government, is, that the Session make 
due report of the whole matter to the Presbytery, giving 
due notice to the Elder in question of the time and 
place at which it is intended to make the report ; and 



RULING ELDERS. 



297 



that the Presb)rtery decide, after due inquiiy and de- 
liberation, whether he ought to resign, or continue his 
connexion with the Session. On the one hand, no 
Church ought to be burdened by the incumbency of an 
unpopular and obstinate Elder, who, instead of edifying, 
is injuring it. And, on the other hand, no innocent 
and really exemplary Elder ought to be abandoned to 
the fury of popular prejudice, and permitted to be tram- 
pled under feet, when, perhaps, he ought to be sustained 
and honored for tiis fidelity. 

Further ; RuHng Eiders, like other Church members^ 
may find it their duty to remove their residence fi-om the 
bounds of the Church which called them to office, to 
another, Such cases not unfrequently arise. The 
question is, when they do occur, how is the official 
standing of such a removing Elder to be disposed off 
He, of course, when he goes, ought to take with him 
a regular certificate of good standing, as a private 
Christian, and a dismis&ion and recommendation to the 
Church to which he removes. The certificate ought 
also to bear an attestation of his regular standing as an 
Elder, and of his official as well as personal dismission 
from his former Church. With this certificate he will 
repair to the Church to which he is recommended, and 
wiU, of course, be received as a private member in good 
standing. If the existing Eldership and members of the 
Church to which he removes, think it for their edifica- 
tion that he be introduced into their Session, he may 
be elected in the manner " most approved and in use in 
that congregation ;" — that is, either by a nomination by 
the Session, or by a popular vote of the 'Church mem- 
bers ; and if thus elected, introduced to an official rela= 
tion to that people, not by a new ordination, which 
ought never to be repeated ; but by being regularly 



298 



RESIGNATION, fcC, OF 



histalled as their Elder. This is effected by the can-- 
didate appearing in the face of the congregation, as one 
about to be ordained ;— answermg in the affirmative the 
Fourth Question directed to be put to candidates for 
the Eldership at their ordination ;— the members of the 
congregation pubhcly professmg to receive him as their 
spiiitual Ruler, agreeably to the last Question, in the 
same formula ; declaring him one of the Ruling Elders 
of that Church ; and closing with prayer for the divide 
blessing on the transaction. 

It may be, however, that when an individual, who. 
has served one congi-egation as an Elder, removes into 
the bounds of another, that other inay not, on the whole, 
think best to elect him as one of their Elders. They 
may akeady have as many as they think there ought 
to be in one Church. Or his character, though unex- 
ceptionably good, may not be such as to promise great 
benefit by taking him into their parochial Presbytery. 
In this case, they are under no obligation to elect him 
one of theii- Elders. And if they do not think best to 
employ him in this character, he may live among them 
as a private member of the Church. At this he ought 
to take no offence. It w ould be a hard case, indeed, if 
Churches were not left at liberty to act agreeably to 
their own views of propriety and duty in such cases. 
If a preaching Elder, or Pastor, be liberated from his 
pastoral charge, and remove his residence within the 
bounds of another Church, however excellent his 
character, that Church is not bound to employ him. To 
suppose it bomid, would indeed be ecclesiastical slavery. 
A preacher inferior to him, in every respect, might be 
preferred. Every Church mast be left to its ow^n 
unbiassed choice. Still the Elder, as well as. the 
minister, in the case supposed, though in retirement. 



RULING ELDERS. 



299 



and without official employment, retains his office, and 
is capable of being employed in that office, whenever 
the judicatories of the C/hurch think proper to avail 
themselves of his services. 

When Ruhng Eld^s become chargeable with he- 
resy or immorality, and, of course, liable to the disciphne a 
of 'the Church, they are amerjable to the bar of the 
Church Session. By that body they are to be arraigned 
and tried. Process against them is to be conducted 
according to the same general rules which regulate the 
trials of private members of the Church, excepting that, 
as their character is, in some respects, more important, 
and their example more influential, than the character 
and example of those who hear no office in the Church; 
so there ought to be peculiar caution, tenderness, and 
care in receiving: accusations, and in commencing pro- 
cess against them. " Against an Elder," says the in- 
spired Pavl^ " receive not an accusation, but before two 
or three witnesses." If, therefore, any person observe 
or hear of any thing in a Kulisig Elder which he con- 
siders as rendering him justly Uable to censure, he ought 
by no means immediately to spread it abroad ; but to com- 
municate what he has observed or heard to the Pastor 
of the Church, and take his advice as to the proper 
course to be pursued ; and if the Pastor cannot be seen 
and consulted, then similar consultation and advice 
should be had with one, at least, of the brother Elders 
of the supposed delinquent: and all this, before any 
hint respecting the alleged delinquency is hsped to any 
other human being. 

As the Church Session is the tribunal to which the 
Ruling Elder is, at least in the first instance, always 
amenable; so it is generally proper that he should be 
tried by that judicatory. Yet where there is any thing 



300 



RESIGNATION, &C., OF 



peculiar or delicate in the case of process against an 
Elder, a Presbytery should be consulted. 

There are cases, however, so very peculiar as to pre- 
clude the possibility of an impartial trial, and sometimeSj 
indeed, of any trial at all, before the Session. A few- 
such cases may be specified. 

An instance occurred, a few years since, in which 
there were only two Elders in a certain Church Session^ 
and the moral conduct of both these Elders became 
impeached. It was, of course, impossible to try them 
in the usual manner. 

In another case, the Session was composed of two 
Elders beside the Pastor. These Elders were own 
brothers. One of them was charged with' immoral 
conduct: and it was judged altogether improper that 
any attempt should be made to try the delinquent in 
that Session. 

In a third class of cases, when process against mem- ^ 
bers of Church Sessions had been commenced, it was 
found that so many of the brother Elders of the delin- 
quents were cited as witnesses, that there was no pros- 
pect of a dispassionate and impartial trial by the re- 
mainder. 

In all these cases, it was wisely judged proper to 
apply immediately to the Presbytery, to take the several 
causes in hand, and to commence and issue process. 

It has been sometimes proposed, in exigencies similar 
to those w^hich have been stated, without applying to 
the Presbyteiy, to call in the aid of the Eldership of a 
neighboring Church, and to submit the case to their 
decision. To this course there are two objections. 
First — the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church 
knows of no such body. It has no where provided for 
the formation of a parochial tribunal in such a manner. 



RULING ELDERS. 



301 



And, secondly^ the adoption of this plan would be to 
set one Church as a judge over a neighboring sister 
Church. 

To avoid this incongruity, it has been sometimes 
proposed to form a tribunal for the trial of delinquent 
Elders, by selecting one or two of the same class of 
officers, from each of several neighboring Sessions. This 
was intended as an expedient to avoid the impropriety 
of setting one Church in judgment over another. But 
this expedient, besides that it is unauthorized by any 
constitutional provision, is liable to the charge of a 
selection of judges, which may not always be fair and 
impartial. It is far better, on every account, and 
especially moi-e in harmony with the natui'e of the case, 
and with the spirit of our general principles, — to go 
immediately to the Presbytery. That body is the 
natural resort in all cases in which the Church Session 
is unable, in its ordinary structure and situation, to 
perform the contemplated work. 



CHAPTER XV. 



ADVANTAGES OF CONDUCTING DISCIPLINE ON THE 
PRESBYTERIAN PLAN. 

It is not forgotten, in entering on this chapter, that 
most denominations of Christians are so far prejudiced, 
and sometimes so bhodly prejudiced, in favor of their 
own particular government and formularies, that their 
judgment in reference to tiiis matter, can seldom be 
regarded as impartial. The writer of this Essay, though 
he does not allow hiuiself to indulge in such prejudices, 
yet, does not claim to be wholly free from them. Instead, 
therefore, of troubling the reader ^\'ith his bare impressions 
and preferences in regard to the Presbyterian mode of 
conducting disciphne, which would, of course, go for 
nothing ; it is proposed to present such a series of 
principles and reasonings as wiU enable the intelligent 
inquiier to judge for himself, how far the conclusions of 
the writer are sustained by solid arguments 

I. And, in the first place, the plan of discipline for 
which we plead, is founded. essentiaU}", on the principle 
of Representation, which, in a greater or less degree, 
pervades aU human society. When a community of 
any extent wishes to frame laws for its own government, 
by whom is this service usaaUy performed ? By the 
whole body of citizens, wise and unwise, ordeily and 
disorderly, eoming together, and debating on the pro^ 



THIS PLAN. 



303 



priety and the form of every proposed enactment? :No, 
never. An attempt of this kind would soon show the 
plan to be equally foolish and impracticable. Again ; 
when a Com-t is to be formed, for applying the laws 
already in force, to human actions, of what materials is 
this tribunal commonly composed ? Does any one ever 
think of summoning the whole mass of the male popula- 
tion, excepting the culprit, or the complainant, whose 
cause is to be tried, to come together, and decide on the 
case? Who would ever expect either a tranquil or a 
wise decision from such a judicial assembly? In both 
these cases, the good sense of men, in all civihzed society, 
dictates the choice of a select number of individ uals, repre- 
sentatives of the whole body, and supposed to possess a 
competent share of l^nowledge, wisdom and integrity, to 
form the laws of the community ; and another body; 
smaller, indeed, but constituted upon similar principles, 
judicially to apply them when enacted. And so in every 
department of society. The representative system was 
one of the earliest that appeared in th e progress of man kind . 
It is recommended by its reasonableness, its convenience, 
its wisdom, and its efficiency. In fact, the more deeply 
we look into the history and state of the world, the more 
clearly we shall see that large bodies of men cannot 
take a step without it. 

And, as this system pervades all civil society ; so we 
may say, without fear of contradiction, that it equally 
pervades the whole economy of Redemption and Grace. 
Is it not reasonable, then, that we should find it in the 
visible Church ? If we did not, it would, indeed, be a 
strange departm'e from a general principle of Jehovah's 
kingdom. 

The Presbyterian plan, then, of conducting the 
governirjeiit of each copgregation, is recommended by 



304 



ADVA^TTAGES OF 



its conformity with this, aimost universaL princifde. It 
deposits the power of applying the laws which Christ has 
enacted, and given to his people ; — not with the whde 
professing population of the Church : but with a select 
body of the coinmunicants, most distinguished for their 
piety J knowledge, judgment, and experience. It does 
not make judges indiscriminately of the young and dd, 
the enlightened and the ignorant, the wise and the 
unwise. It selects the exemplary, the pious, the pradent 
the grave, and the experienced, for this important work. 
" It sets those to judge who are most esteemed in the 
house of God." This is the thewy ; and, in most cases, 
we may supper, the actual practice. Aiid where it is 
really so. who does not see that there is every security 
which the nature of the case admits, that the judgmmt 
will be the most calm, judicious and edifying that the 
amoimt of wisdom and of piety in that Church could 
pronotmce / 

The inconvenience. nay the positive mi^cbiefs. of com- 
mitting the judgment, lq die most delicate and diScuit 
cases of implicated Christian character, to the whde ma^ 
of Christian profes^ws, have been alluded to in a preced- 
ing chapter. And the more closdy they areexamined. the 
DM)re serious wiU they appear. No conJidenual precau- 
tion ; no calm, retired inquiry; no deUberate consulta- 
tion of sensitive fedings. witJh fidelity, and yet with 
fraternal ddicacy, can poesibly take jdace, in OTdinarv' 
cas^ but by the adc^cai of an expedient, which 
amotmts to the tempOTary appointment of Elders. On 
the c<mtrary. upon any other plan, the door is wide open 
for tale-bearing : for party heat : for the Tidad<»i of all 
those nicer sensibiUties, which in Christian society, are 
of so much value : and, after all, a decision with 
which, perhaps, no one is satkfied. It would, traly, be 



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305 



passing strange, if a sober, wise, and consistent decision 
should be pronounced by such a tribunal. We are surely, 
then, warranted in setting it down as one of the manifest 
advantages of conducting discipline on the Presbyterian 
plan, that, by the adoption of the representative system, 
it provides, in all ordinary cases, for the purest, the wisest, 
and the most edifying decisions of which the nature of 
the case admits. 

II. Further ; as was hinted, in a preceding chapter, 
this method of conducting discipline, presents one 

OF THE FIRMEST CONCEIVxIBLE BARRIERS AGAINST 
THE AMBITION ANB ENCROACHMENTS OF THE CleR- 

GY. It is not intended again to enlarge on the hable- 
ness of ministers of the gospel to feel that love of power 
which is natural toman. Very few of them, it is believed, 
in this land of l eligious hberty, have ever really aimed 
at ecclesiastical encroachment. But as laws are made 
for the disobedient; and as ministers are but men; so 
that system of ecclesiastical polity may be considered as 
the best, which, while it is attended with the greatest 
amount of positive advantage, is adapted most effectually 
to obviate those evils to which human nature is ex- 
posed. 

Now, it is evident, that the method of conducting dis^ 
dpline at present under consideration, assigns to every 
Pastor a Council, or Senate of pious, wise, prudent men, 
chosen from among the body of the communicants ; and 
though not strictly lay -men, yet commonly so viewed, 
and, at any rate, carrying with them the feehngs of the 
mass of their brethren. He is simply the Chairman of 
this body of six, eight or ten men, who are charged 
with the whole spiritual rule, and "without whose 
counsel nothing is do^ie in the Church." He can carry 
no measure but with their consent. He can neither 
. 2c2 



ADVANTAGES OF 



admit dot exclude a single member, widiout iheir con- 
currence. If he engage in an^^ sinister or foul plan^ 

as many are fond of supposing the cleigy inchned to 
attempt, he cenainly cannot accomplish it, either in his 
own Church, or in neighboring Churches, unless he 
can prevail on these men to join with him in conspiring 
to elevate himseh, ai their own expense. "Will he be 
likely to work such a wonder as this ? At any rate, 
there seems to be the b^st banier against it, that the 
nature of human society admits. 

The same general safeguard pervades all the Judi- 
catories of the Presbyterian Church. In all of them 
Ruling Elders have a place, and m all of them, ex- 
cepting the General Assembly, the Elders, if the theory 
of oui sy stern were carried into perfect execution, would 
be a majority. In the General Assembly alone, if com- 
pletely full, they would stand on an equality in votes 
with the Pastors. And these Ruling Eiders are not 
merely present in all these Ixwiies. They mingle in all 
the business; are appoiated on aU committees; and 
have every possible opportunity of becoming acquainted 
in the most intimate manner, with all that is propceed 
or done. There can be no concealment The pro- 
ceedings of all our Judicatories, excepting the Church 
Session, where the Elders form an overwhelminsr ma- 
jority, are open and public as the %ht of day. And 
every Ruhng Elder has at his disposal a vote as potent 
as that of his mc«st eloquent and learned neighVx)ring 
Pastor. 

It may be asked. theUj whether there is not here st 
barrier against clerical ambition and encroachment as 
fixed and firm as can well be conceived or desired 1 It 
is,, undoubtedly, a far more firm barrier than is pre- 
sented by the pjpular plan in use among our Indep^- 



THIS PLAN. 



dent brethren. For as, in every Church, a majority of 
the members have but little discernment, and are, of 
course, easily influenced and led; so a,n artful, design- 
ing Pastor, if such an one should appear in a Church 
thus constituted, might generally succeed in concilia- 
ting to his own person and schemes a majority of the 
votes, to the utter discomfiture of the more wise, pious, 
and prudent portion of the members. But, upon the 
Presbyterian plan, it is precisely this best class of his^ 
Church members who are associated with him in au- 
thority and counsel; who are with him, ecclesiastically 
speaking, abroad and at home, in the house and by the 
way, in going out and in coming in ; from whose no- 
tice he cannot escape, and without whose co-operation 
he can do nothing. Truly, this is the very last method 
that designing, ambitious ministers would adopt to 
forward their projects! Nothing could be conceived 
more unfriendly to corrupt schemes, than such a band 
of official coUeaguee. And accordingly, as we have 
more than once seen, in the foregoing chapters, the ho- 
nest and pious old Ambrose^ of the fourth century,, 
expressly tells us, that it was a wish to get rid of such 
colleagues, on the part of the Teaching Elders, that 
first led to the gradual disuse of Ruling Elders in the 
Church, after the first three centuries. 

III. Again; as the Presbyterian plan of administering 
discipline is adapted to present one of the strongest con- 
ceivable barriers against clerical ambition^ so it also 
furnishes one of the best securities for preserving 
THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. And here nothing 
will be said on the supposed congeniality between the- 
Presbyterian form of Church Government, and the 
republican, representative systems under which we live \ 
and the alleged tendency of the former to prepare men 



f 



308 



ADVANTAGES OF 



for understanding, prizing and maintaining the latter; 
— I say, on these allegations I shall not dwell: — not 
because I do not consider both as perfectly well founded ; 
but because the discussion might be deemed, by some 
readers, invidious: and because it forms no necessary 
part of m}^ argimient. Independently of these consi- 
derations, it may be confidently maintained, that the 
Presb3l;erian plan of administering discipline, furnishes 
far better security for preserving unimpaired the rights 
of private Christians, than any plan with which we are 
acquainted. It is not forgotten that this assertion will 
appear a paradox to many : but it rests, nevertheless, 
on the most solid grounds. 

There is no oppression more heavy, no tyranny 
more unrelenting, than that of an excited, infuiiated 
popular assembly. No lx)dy with which the rights and 
privileges of an inculpated individual are less safe ; es- 
j^ecially when headed and controlled by an eloquent, 
artful, and highly popular Pastor, who has taken part 
against tliat individual. Suppose, then, as the anucds 
of Independency have too often exemplified, — that a 
member is on trial, for some alleged delincjuency, before 
a Church of that denomination. Suppose the alleged 
offence to be one which has deeply ahenated from him 
his Pastor, and all the particular friends of the Pastor. 
Suppose these, as one man, rise up against him, and 
resolve to crush him. And suppose this Pastor to be so 
generally admired and beloved by his people, that he is 
able to command an overwhelming majority of their 
votes, in support of ail his favorite measrues. What 
chance would such an accused person stand of an im- 
partial trial before such a tribunal? Not the smallest. 
He might be guilty, indeed, and deserve the heaviest 
sentence: but even if innocent, his acciuittal. in such 



THIS PLAN. 



309 



circumstances could be anticipated by none. He must 
become the victim of popular resentment; and if he 
thus fall, he has no remedy. There is no tribunal to 
which he can appeal. He must lie down under the 
oppressive sentence. And there he must lie as long as 
he hves. He cannot regularly, (that is, according to 
that ecclesiastical rule which pervades all religious de- 
nominations) go to another Church ; for the supposi- 
tion is that he is excommunicated, and cannot be re- 
commended as in good standing" to any other eccle- 
siastical body. He must submit to the operation of the 
sentence, however unjust, until the excited and impas- 
sioned body which laid it upon him, shall be disposed 
to relent, and consent to remove the deadly weight. 

It is not denied that there may be moments of pre- 
judice and passion in a Presbyterian Church, in which 
even the grave and experienced Elders may be so 
wrought upon by different sorts of influence, as to dis- 
pense justice very imperfectly, or, even, in a particular 
case, to refuse it entirely. But then, in every such case, 
upon the Presbyterian plan, there is an immediate and 
perfect remedy. An individual who supposes himself 
wronged, may appeal to a higher tribunal, where his 
cause will be heard by judicious, enlightened, impartial 
men, who had no concern in its origin, and who, if 
wrong have been done, may be expected to afford 
prompt and complete redress. The oppressive sentence 
may be reversed. He may be reinstated, in spite of po- 
pular excitement, in all his Christian privileges; and 
even, where his own reluctance, or that of his former 
connexions, may forbid his return to the bosom of the 
same congrega,tion in which he recently received such 
treatment; yet he may easily and regularly be at- 
tached to a neighboring one of the same denomina- 



310 



ADVANTAGES OF 



tion, and thus find the whole difficulty satisfactorily 
removed. 

It is not asserted, then, that other Churches, in the 
exercise of discipline, do, in fact ^ more fiequently injure 
and oppress the subjects of theii* discipline than the 
Presbyterian Church. Such an assertion, indeed, might, 
perhaps, be made without invidiousness ; inasmuch as 
decisions formed and pi onounced by the popular voice, 
may be deemed, without disparagement to the indi\"idu- 
als who form them, less likely to be wise, and impartial, 
than when formed by a select body of enlightened and 
pious judges. But on this point no comparative estimate 
will be attempted. It is however, confidently asserted, 
that when such wrong, as that of which we speak un- 
happily occurs, the Presbyterian system ^iffbrds more 
complete relief from oppression, and. therefore, furnishes 
more fixed security for the rights of the people, tlian is 
found in any other denomination. No single man, in 
our Church, whatever title he may bear, can, by his sin- 
gle, perhaps capricious, veto, deprive a professing Chris- 
tian of his pri\Tleges as a Church member; nor can 
it be done by a feverish, popidar assembly, impelled by 
its own prejudice or passion, or held under the sovereign 
control of one man. The best array of piety, wisdom, 
and knowledge which the society affords, must sit in 
judgment in the case ; and even if this judicatoiy should 
give an unjust sentence, the religious rights of the in- 
dividual are not prostrated or foreclosed ; but may be 
reviewed by an impartial tribunal, and every privilege 
which he ought to enjo}", secured. 

IV. Further ; the plan of conducting Church govern- 
ment, with the aid of Ruling Elders, secures to Ministers 
of the Word and Sacraments, counsel and support, 

IN ALL THEIR OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGSj OF THE 



THIS PLAN", 



311 



BEST POSSIBLE KIND. Supposing ministers of the 
gospel to .be honest, pious, disinterested and zealous in 
their appropriate work ; to have no disposition, at any 
time, to encroach on the rights of others ; and to be above 
the reach of that passion and prejudice, which are so 
apt to assail even the honest, and which need a check 
in all ; — even suppose ministers of the gospel to be above 
the reach of these e\ils; — still they need counsel, in- 
formation, and support in a multitude of cases, and 
cannot, with either safety or advantage, proceed without 
• them. In all the affairs of the Church, it is of the 
utmost uiiportance that the interests of the whole body 
be constantly consulted, and that the whole body 
act an appropriate part in conducting its affairs. As 
there are no privileged orders to be aggi-andized and 
elevated; so there are no ecclesiastical secrets to be 
kept ; no private or selfish schemes to be tolerated. The 
more completely every plan is laid open to public view., 
understood and appreciated by every member, sustained 
by unanimous and willing effort, and made to promote 
the knowledge, purity and order of the whole — the 
better. Of course, that plan of ecclesiastical regimen 
which is best adapted to attain these ends, and to attain 
them in the most certain, direct, quiet, and comfortable 
manner, is most worthy of our choice. 

Such a plan, it is firmly believed, is the Presbyterian. 
In every department of official duty, the Pastor of this 
denomination has associated with him, a body of pious, 
w4se, and disinterested counsellors, taken from among 
the people-; acquainted with their views ; participating 
in their feelings ; able to give sound advice as to the 
wisdom and practicability of plans which requke general 
co-operation for caiTying them into effect; and able also^ 
after having aided in the formation of such plans, to 



312 



ADVANTAGES OF 



return to their constituents, and so to advocate and re- 
commend them, as to secure general concurrence in 
I heir favor. 

Tliis is an advantage, strictly speaking, peculiar to 
Presb>lerianism. For although other foims of Church 
government provide for associating lay-men with the 
clergy in ecclesiastical business: yet. according to them, 
the] e is no divine waiTant for it. It is a mere himian 
expedient, to meet an acknowledged exigency, for 
which those who make this acknowledgment, suppose 
that the law of Chiist makes no provision. And the 
liuman pro\ision which they thus make, is, manifestly, 
Uable to many objections. It consists either in consti- 
tuting the whole lx)dy of the communicants the Pastor's 
counsellors — which is hable to all the objections stated 
at large in a former chapter ; or, in providing for him 
a committee, or small delegation of lay-men, who may 
be changed eveiT year, or oftener, and, of course, may 
have very little experience ; and in some Churches 
these lay delegates aie not required to be communicants, 
or even baptized persons ; and, consequently, may have 
no real ecclesiastical responsibility for their conduct. 

T. The method of conductmg discipline under con- 
sideration, has also the advantage on the score of des- 
patch AXD EXERGT, as wcll as of wisdom, and the 
secmity of equal rights. 

"VMiere all the discipline tiiat is exercised is in the 
hands of a single individual, without apj^eal, it must be 
confessed that, in this case, provision for despatch and 
energy cannot be, at least in theoiy, more perfect. But 
where it is in the hands of the whole body of the Church 
members, there is no saving how long htigation may be 
protracted, or in what perplexities and delays the 
plainest case may be involved. There are so many 



THIS PLAN. 



minds to be consulted, and every case, upon this plaO; 
is so open to capricious or malignant interposition, that 
it is impossible, in ordinary circumstances, to calculate 
results, or to foresee an end. 

Even on the Presb5^erian plan, there is no doubt 
that delay and perplexities may, in some cases^ arise. 
But where the whole management of discipline, from its 
inceptive steps, to the consummation of each case, is 
entirely committed to a select body of pious, intelligent, 
prudent, and experienced men, accustomed to the 
work, and aware of the dangers to which their course 
is exposed, we may reasonably calculate on their deci- 
sions being as speedy, as vmembarrassed, and as much 
lifted above the temporizing feebleness, or the tem- 
pestuous irregularity and confusion, incident to popular 
management, as human infirmity will allow. 

VL The plan of conducting discipline by means of 
a succession of judicatories, adrnitting of appeal, provides 
for redressing many grievances which do not appear, 
otherwise, to admit of a remedy. According to the In- 
dependent, or strictly Congregational system, as sugges- 
ted in a preceding page, when a member of a Church 
has been unjustly censured or cast out, he has no appeal. 
There is no tribunal to which he can apply for relief. 
Yet his case may be an exceedingly hard one, loudly 
calling for redress. The cause of religion in his neigh- 
borhood may be suffering severely by the situation in 
which he is placed. Ouglit there not tp be some regular 
and adequate method of meeting and removing such a 
difficulty? In such of the Churches of Connecticut ag 
have entered into the plan of Consociational union, such 
a method has been, to a certain extent, provided. But 
it has been by adopting, to piecisely the same extent, a 
leading principle of Presbyterianism. When difficulties? 



314 



ADVANTAGES OF 



arise in a particular Church, a tribunal is formed, by a 
number of neighboring ministers, together with one or 
more lay-delegates from each of the Churches represent- 
ed, whojnay review, and, if need be, redress the alleged 
grievance. This is a Presbyterian feature in their 
system, and, so far as it goes, excellent and effectual. 
In the judgment, ho\vever, of the venerable President 
Dwight jthis plan is still defective, and defective precisely 
in the point at which it stops short of Presbyterianism. 
The opinion which this distinguished Congiegational 
Minister has expressed, in reference to the subject ])efore 
us, will best appear by presenting it in its connexion. 
It is as follows : — 

" There are many cases in which individuals are 
dissatisfied, on refisonable grounds, with the judgment 
of a Church. It is perfectly obvious, that, in a debate 
between two members of the same Church, the parties 
may, in many respects, stand on unequal giound. One 
of them may be ignorant ; without family connexions: 
in humble circumstances ; and possessed of little or no 
personal influence. The other may be a person of dis- 
tinction ; opulent : powerfully connected ; of superior 
understanding; and of great personal influence, not 
only in the Church, but also in the countrj^ at large. 
As things are in tliis world, it is impossible that these 
persons should possess, in any controversy between them, 
equal advantages. Beyond all this, the Church itself 
may be one party, and a poor and powerless member 
the other. In this case also, it is unnecessary to observe, 
the individual must labor under every supposable dis- 
advantage, to which a righteous cause can be subjected. 
To bring the parties in these, or any similar ciicum- 
stanceSj as near to a state of equality as human affairs 
wUl peimit, it seems absolutely necessary that every 



THIS PLAN. 



315 



ecclesiastical body should have its tribunal of appeals ; 
a superior Judicature, established by common consent, 
and vested with authority to issue finally all those causes, 
which, before a single Church, are obviously liable to a 
partial decision." 

" Such a tribunal, in all the New-England States, 
except this ( Connecticut) is formed by what is called a 
Select Council; that is a council mutually chosen by 
the contending parties. This has long appeared to me 
a Judicatory most unhappily constituted. The parties 
choose, of course, such persons, as they suppose most 
likely to favor themselves. If, therefore, they commit 
no mistakes in the choice, the Council may be considered 
as divided in opinion, before it assembles; and as fur- 
nishing every reason to believe, that it will not be less 
divided afterwards. Its proceedings will frequently be 
marked with strong partialities; and its decisions, if 
made at all, will, not unfrequently, be those of a bare 
majority. Coming from different parts of the country, 
it w^ill have no common rules of proceeding. After its 
decisions, its existence ceases. Its responsibility vanishes 
with its existence ; as does also the sense of its authority. 
As the members freqiLently come from a distance, it can 
have no knowledge concerning those numerous parti- 
culars, which respect the transactions to be judged of j 
and the characters, interests, views and contrivances of 
those who are immediately concerned. As individuals, 
these members may, in some instances, have much 
weight ; and in certain circumstances, may, by their 
wisdom and piety, do much good. But all this must 
arise solely from their personal character. As a Council, 
as a judicatory, they can scarely have any weight at all ; 
for as they disappear when the trial is ended, they are 
forgotten in their united character ; and having no 



316 



ADVANTAGES OF 



permanent existence, are regarded with no habitual 
respect, and even with no prejudice in their favor. Very 
often, also, as they were chosen on partial principles, 
they are led, of course, to partial decisions ; and leave 
behind them very unhappy opinions concerning eccle- 
siastical government at large/^ 

In this state, ( Connecticut, much happier mode has 
been resorted to, for the accomplishment of this object. 
The tribunal of appeal is here a Consociation; a 
standing body, composed of the settled Ministers within 
an associational district, and Delegates from the Churches 
in the same district ; a body always existing ; of ac- 
knowledged authority ; of great weight ; possessed of all 
the impartiahty incident to human affairs; feeling its 
responsibility as a thing of course; a Court of Record, 
having a regular system of precedents ; and, from being 
frequently called to business of this nature, skilled, to a 
good degree, in the proper modes of proceeding." 

" The greatest defect in this system, as. it seems to 
me, is the want of a still superior tribunal, to 

RECEIVE APPEALS, IN CASES WHERE THEY ARE 

obviously NECESSARY. Thesc, it is unnecssary for 
me to particularize. Every person extensively acquain- 
ted with ecclesiastical affairs, knows that such cases 
exist. The only remedy provided by the system of 
discipline estabhshed in this State, for those who feel 
aggrieved by a Consociational judgment, is to introduce 
a neighboring Consociation, as assessors with thatwhich 
has given the judgment, at a new hearing of the cause. 
The provision of this partial, imperfect tribunal of appeals, 
is clear proof, that those who formed the system, perceived 
the absolute necessity of some appellate jurisdiction. The 
judicatory which they have furnished of this nature, is 
perhaps the best, which the Churches of the State, 



THIS PLAN. 



would at that, or any succeeding period, have consented 
to establish. Yet it is easy to see that, were they 
disposed, they might easily institute one which 

WOULD BE incomparably BETTER." 

"The only instance found in the Scriptures of an 
appeal, actually made for the decision of an ecclesiastical 
debate, is that recorded in the fifteenth chapter of the 
Acts, and mentioned for another purpose in a former 
discourse. A number of the Jews in the Church at 
Antioch, insisted that the Gentile converts should be cir- 
cumcised and be obliged to keep the law of Moses. 
Paul and Barnabas strenuously controverted this point 
with them. As no harmonious termination of the debate 
could be had at Antioch, an appeal was made " to the 
Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem.^' But, as I observed^ 
in the discourse mentioned, it was heard and determined 
by the Apostles, Elders and Brethren. As this judicatory 
was formed under the direction of the Apostles them- 
selves, it must be admitted as a precedent for succeeding 
Churches ; and teaches us, on the one hand, that an 
appellate jurisdiction is both lawful and necessary in the 
Church ; and, on the other, that it is to be composed of 
both Ministers and Brethren, necessarily acting, at the 
present time, by delegation."* 

In this quotation, and in the remarks which preceded 
it, a refei ence, it will be preceived, is principally had to 
cases in which individual private members have consi- 
dered themselves as aggrieved by the decisions of parti- 
cular Churches. But the same remarks, in substance, 
are applicable to those cases in which difficulties arise 
between Ministers and their Congregations, or between 
two neighboring Congregations of the same name. No 



* Theology Explained and Defended, Vol. iv. 399—401 . 
2d2 



318 



ADVANTAGES OV 



form of Church.government provides for the setttemenfe 
of such difficulties so promptly or so well as the Presby- 
terian. Independency, strictly so called ; that is Inde- 
pendency, in strict adherence to its essential principles, 
furnishes, for such evils, no remedy whatever. Other 
sects furnish a nominal or partial remedy, by investing 
some official individual with power to constitute a tribu- 
nal for settling such controversies. But the choice of 
the members of this tribunal is usually committed 
entirely to that individual, and it is, of course, in his 
power to make it,hke a " packed jury," in the hands of 
a corrupt returaing officer, a mere instmment of op- 
pression. But, m the Presbyterian Church, every 
difficulty of this kind is committed, for adjustment, to a 
pemianent, responsible body ; a body whose proceedings 
may be reviewed and examined : whose organization 
or members cannot be changed at the wiil of a corrupt 
individual, who may choose to tamper with them: 
and whose decisions are not merely ad\isory, but au- 
thoritative. 

YII. Finally ; the Presbyteiian method of conducting 
the government of the Church, is most friendly to the 
spread of the gospel, and furnishes peculiar facili- 
ties FOR UNION AND EFFICIENCY OF ACTION, IN 

promoting the great objects of christian 
ben:evolence. 

It has been sometimes^ indeed, alleged, in opposition 
to this, that Presbyterianism is, naturally, and ahiiost 
necessarily, cold and formal ; and that Congregationah 
ism has been found, in fact, more favorable to zeal and 
activity in spreading the gospel It is by no means in- 
tended to depreciate either the zeal or the activity of our 
Congregational Brethren. Justice demands that much 
be said in commendation of both. And it will be no- 



THIS PLAN. 



319 



small praise to any other denomination to be found 
successfully emulating the intelligence, enterprize and 
perseverance which they have often manifested in 
pursuing the best interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
But when the organization of the Presbyterian Church 
is examined, one would think that prejudice itself could 
scarcely deny its pecuhar adaptedness for united, har- 
monious, and efficient action, in every thing which it 
might become convinced was worthy of pursuit. 

In order to enable this Church to act with the utmost 
energy and uniformity, throughout its entire extent, 
there is no need of any netv organization. It is orga- 
nized already^ and in a manner, as would seem, as 
perfect as possible for united and harmonious action. 
A delegation from every Church, meet and confer, 
several times in each year, as a matter of course, in 
Presbytery. What opportunity could be imagined 
more favorable for forming and executing plans of co- 
operation, among all the Churches thus united, and. 
statedly convening ? They have the same opportunity, 
and every advantage, of meeting at pleasure, that can 
be enjoyed by a voluntary association ; with the addi- 
tional advantage, that they act under a system of eccle- 
siastical rules and authority, which enable them to 
go forward with more energy and uniformity in theii* 
adopted course. If a more extended union of Presby- 
terian Chm-ches than of those which belong to a single 
Presbytery, be desired, for any particular purpose, the 
regular meetings of the Synods^ each corriprising a 
number of Presbyteries, afford the happiest opportunity, 
without any new or extra combination, of effecting 
the object. The representatives of,, perhaps, one hun- 
dred and fifty Churches, assembled in their ecclesiastical 
capacity, and in the name of Christ, could hardly b^ 



320 



ADVANTAGES OF 



conceived to convene in circumstances more perfectly 
favorable to their co-operating, in any worthy and hal- 
lowed cause, with one heart, and with the most perl'ect 
concentration of effort. And when we extend our 
thoughts to the General Assembly, the bond of union, 
counsel and co-operation fof more than two thousand 
Churches^ ajl represented, and combined in the same 
cause; we see a plan which, in theory at least, it would 
seem difficult to adapt more completely to union of heart 
and hand in any good work. The most admirable 
combination, with eveiy possible advantage, exists be- 
forehand. Nothing is in any case, wanting, but the 
animating Spirit necessary for applying it to the 
proper objects. The machinery, in all its perfection, 
is already constructed , and ready to be set in motion. 
Only let the impelUng principle, which is necessary to 
set all moral combinations into vigorous movement, be 
present, and operate with due power, and it may be 
asserted, that a more advantageous system for ecclesi- 
astical enterprise was never devised. 

It is not a sufficient reply to this statement to say. 
that the Congregational Churches of Nevj-Englandy 
have, in fact, done more within the last thirty years, in 
the way of contribution and effoit, for extending the 
Redeemer's kingdom, than any equal number of 
Churches of the Presbyterian denomination in the 
United States. It is impossible to contemplate the iri- 
telligence, harmony of feeling, and pious enterprise of 
the mass of our Congregational Brethren, without sen- 
timents, at once, of l espcct and gratitude. But is not 
the general fact alluded to, chiefly referable to other 
causes than the form of their Church government? No 
one, it is beheved, can doubt, for a moment, that this is 
the case. Their Church government is, manifestly, les.?^ 



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321 



adapted to promote union and eflfective co-operation, 
than most others. But their inteUigence, their piety, 
their common origin, their homogenous character, their 
compact situation, and the sameness of the instruction, 
the excitements, and the agencies which they enjoy, 
have all tended to prepare them for united and har- 
monious co-operation. Only give to the members of 
Churches organized on the Presbyterian plan, the same 
advantages ; the same natural principles of cohesion ; 
the same intellectual and moral stimulants ; and the 

- same pervading spirit ; — and can any one believe that 
there would be found less union, and less energy in 
pursuing the best interests of man ? We must deny 
the connexion between cause and effect, before we can 
doubt that there would be more of both. It has been 
sometimes, indeed, said, as a supposed exemplification: 
of the unfavorable influence of Presbyterianism, that 
the Churches called Presbyterian, in South Britain,^ 
have generally declined, both in orthodoxy and piety^ 
within the last hundred years ; while the Independents 
have generally and happily maintained their character 
for both. But the fact is, that when the English Pres- 

■ byterians gradually fell into those errors, for which the 
greater part of them are now distinguished, they, at tlie 
same time, gradually renounced the Presbyterian form 
of government, although they retained the name- 
There are not now, and have not been, for many years, 
any real Presbyterians in England^ excepting those 
who are, directly or indirectly, connected with Churches 
in Scotland. After all, it is not pretended that the 
Presbyterian form of Church government can, of itself, 
infuse spiritual life and activity into an ecclesiastical 
body ; but that where vitality, aiad zeal, and resources 
exist; there is no form of ecclesiastical organization in 



322 



ADVANTAGES OF 



the world so well adapted to unite counsels, and invi- 
gorate efforts, as that under which we are so happy as 
to live. 

It makes no part, however, of the design of the 
author of this volume to assail, or to depreciate the 
ecclesiastical order of other denominations. On the 
contrary, wherever he finds those who evidently bear 
the image of Christ, and who appear to be engaged in 
advancing his kingdom, whatever form of Church or- 
der they may prefer, he can hail them with unquahfied 
affection as Christian Brethren. The truth is, he would, 
not have alluded to any other portion of the Christian 
Ch urch than th at with which he is more immediately con- 
nected, had it appeared possible, without doing so, fully 
to illustrate the character and advantages of our own 
form of government. His ardent wish is, not to alien a te^ 
by high claims, or unkind language ; but rather to 
conciliate and bind together by every thing that can 
minister to brotherly love. And his daily pj'ayer is, 
that all the Evangehcal Churches in our land may be 
more and more united in principle and effort, for ex- 
tending that " kingdom which is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." 



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